'Big Cat' spotted in Wales as expert says breeding is possible
There’s been yet another sighting of what some people are claiming to be a ‘big cat’ in the UK, and this time the footage seems a little bit more conclusive, check it out for yourself - we've even slowed it down a bit the second time so you can have a really good look.
OK, so it’s not exactly positive proof that large cats are wandering around the British countryside, but it certainly doesn’t seem like it’s been doctored too heavily or anything either.
The short piece of footage shows a rural area with a few houses in it, before zooming up to a grassy hillside on which a large cat-shaped creature is prowling.
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This is where it starts to get a bit strange, because it looks and moves just like a regular domestic cat, but it seems to be way bigger.
Is it just a trick of the camera?
Remember how they used forced perspective in The Lord of the Rings to make Ian McKellen seem massive next to the hobbits, despite the fact that he’s not that much bigger in real life?
Could it be something like that?
Well, after it was shared to Reddit, the footage – filmed in Penallta Park in the Welsh town of Caerphilly – has been dividing opinion.
One person joked: “I’d definitely proceed Caerphilly from now on.”
Another person said: “It’s a puma, they’ve been around in the UK for ages! “Farmers know because they’ll occasionally find sheep carcasses dragged up trees.”
A third commented: “It’s a cat, the angle and street furniture are giving a false perspective. “It’s not a puma it’s Tiddles”
So, what is the truth behind it?
We may never know, but at least one wildlife expert has stated that the animals could certainly live and breed in the UK, even if they’ve never actually encountered one.
In an interview with the Tivyside Advertiser, BBC naturalist and TV presenter Iolo Williams said: “Just because I’ve never actually clapped eyes on one living in the wild doesn’t mean to say that they are definitely not around."
He continued: “Big cats are by nature incredibly shy and elusive and will go out of their way to remain concealed from sight.
"Having said that, over the years I must have tramped tens of thousands of miles across all parts of Wales and in all that time I’ve never come across any evidence that these things are actually out there.
"If there was indeed a population of big cats living and breeding in our countryside, you’d have thought we’d find far more sheep carcasses lying about – and obvious prey such as pheasants would be massacred in their hundreds."
Tom Wood