• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Big cat photographed in UK countryside 'was a leopard' says Carole Baskin

Home> News> UK News

Updated 12:08 18 Aug 2023 GMT+1Published 12:02 18 Aug 2023 GMT+1

Big cat photographed in UK countryside 'was a leopard' says Carole Baskin

That 'big cat' people reckon is running around the UK 'was a leopard' according to Carole Baskin

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

A group of documentary filmmakers are sure that there's a big cat prowling around the British countryside and they reckon it's a panther, but Carole Baskin disagrees.

The new documentary Panthera Britannia claims to have photographic evidence of this dark-furred feline, which appears to show a large cat lying in the long grass in Staffordshire.

As you can probably guess from the title, the documentary makers think the big cat is a panther, and they claim that DNA evidence proves a big cat was behind a slain sheep in Gloucestershire last year.

They believe the animal could have been owned by a private individual before the laws around exotic animal ownership changed and a lot of people just abandoned them in the countryside.

Advert

Not everyone is sure the cat is a panther, however, and Carole Baskin has weighed in on the matter to disagree with the documentary.

Carole Baskin appeared on Jeremy Kyle's show to discuss the big cat.
TalkTV

Speaking to Jeremy Kyle on TalkTV, the Big Cat Rescue boss who became famous due to the Netflix documentary Tiger King, said she thought the cat was real and that it wasn't a panther as some had assumed.

She said: "I think it’s very likely that it is a black leopard because I’ve worked with big cats for the past 40 years and the smartest cats bar none are the leopards and the black leopards just disappear into the landscape.

"By the time you get your camera up, they’re gone. They can be right in front of you and you wouldn’t even know they were there."

Advert

As for concerns that a big cat being out there on the prowl could spell trouble for people's pets, apparently there's not much to worry about on that front because the leopard won't want the hassle.

Leopard or panther, what would you say?
Dragonfly Films

"I don’t think people need to worry about their pets. No leopard wants to get into it with a house cat because they recognise that that’s going to be a fight," Baskin explained, while also telling people what they should do if they came across a big scary looking cat out in the countryside.

"They don't want some yappy little dog because that's more trouble than they need. They have plenty of prey out in the wild they can go after, but if you were to find yourself face to face with a cat, don’t run because then you're going to look like prey."

"So you should try to make yourself look as big as possible. In my case, and I wouldn’t recommend this to people... but in my case if I have to approach one of our cats I will step towards them and show them I am in charge."

Advert

"Even though they’re so much bigger and stronger than I am, they must think there’s something wrong with me for doing that and they’ll kind of like, back off."

Featured Image Credit: SWNS / Talk TV

Topics: Animals, Tiger King, UK News, Netflix

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Mysterious figure in big cat 'gimp' costume caught on camera terrorising small town locals
  • Marine park says it will kill its 30 beluga whales unless condition is met
  • How far a nuclear blast could spread as Russia sends chilling threat to strike 23 UK locations
  • UK locations that would be safest in the event of WW3 as Russia sends chilling threat to strike 23 places

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
5 hours ago
  • Getty Stock Images
    3 hours ago

    Scientists have 'finally solved' mystery of Easter Island heads in groundbreaking discovery

    Scientists believe they've cracked the process in which the statues were moved into place

    News
  • Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
    3 hours ago

    Urgent note handed to Donald Trump by Secretary of State has been exposed by zoomed-in photo

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed Donald Trump a note at a roundtable event in the White House’s Blue Room

    News
  • Vicky Unwin
    4 hours ago

    Woman whose daughter died after ketamine overdose reveals why she still wants the drug legalised

    Vicky Unwin's daughter Louise died from a ketamine overdose in 2011

    News
  • YouTube/I (don’t) have dementia
    5 hours ago

    Man diagnosed with Alzheimer's aged 41 shares potentially life changing health update

    Australian researcher Fraser has shared a health update after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in 2024

    News