Black Cats?

[Cat Man.]

I live Sutherland in the north of Scotland and every so often the local newspaper publishes reports of a sighting of a big black cat that is often described as panther like, however recently on the regional TV news a report of a sighting was mentioned then on the local radio a report of a sighting closer to the area I live in was mention, and now in the last three day I’ve heard of four sightings in the local area and given the fact that the sightings happened on bodies of land that are each separated by bodies of water that can only be crossed by road bridges there would have to be at least three different cats.

If memory serves me right about four years ago a similar thing happened, more reports led to more sightings.

If for years these things have been running round the countryside then why have no farm animals been found dead or reported missing, and if as some suggest that these cats have been round for a long time (I’ve head some people claim since the 1960) why have no dead ones been found?

Is this a case of there being blanks and people filling them in or is there another explanation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

[bindeweede]

I live Sutherland in the north of Scotland and every so often the local newspaper publishes reports of a sighting of a big black cat that is often described as panther like, however recently on the regional TV news a report of a sighting was mentioned then on the local radio a report of a sighting closer to the area I live in was mention, and now in the last three day I’ve heard of four sightings in the local area and given the fact that the sightings happened on bodies of land that are each separated by bodies of water that can only be crossed by road bridges there would have to be at least three different cats.

If memory serves me right about four years ago a similar thing happened, more reports led to more sightings.

If for years these things have been running round the countryside then why have no farm animals been found dead or reported missing, and if as some suggest that these cats have been round for a long time (I’ve head some people claim since the 1960) why have no dead ones been found?

Is this a case of there being blanks and people filling them in or is there another explanation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

This sort of thing....?

http://www.northern-times.co.uk/news..._prowl....html

Most mobile phones have cameras these days. No photos, even poor quality??

The "Nessie of Sutherland"? It might sell a few more papers I suppose.

And the retired detective who wrote,

"However, all these people who are reporting sightings cannot be wrong."

....well...................

[bindeweede]

[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]
Is this a case of there being blanks and people filling them in or is there another explanation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Cat Man, apologies. I have not offered any help, which is what you requested.

[Harryprice]

... and now in the last three day I’ve heard of four sightings in the local area and given the fact that the sightings happened on bodies of land that are each separated by bodies of water that can only be crossed by road bridges there would have to be at least three different cats.

Sorry I don't get this. Why can't a cat cross a road bridge?

Is this a case of there being blanks and people filling them in or is there another explanation?

While there are a few cases where large cats seem to be genuinely involved (see here, for instance) most sightings are probably misperception. In particular, witnesses tend to be poor at accurately assessing scale and hence the size of animals involved. They can also mistake large dogs and other animals for cats when seen in poor viewing conditions.

When talking to witnesses it is curious how some suddenly become zoological experts when questionned, despite little or no previous experience or training in the subject. They will tell you they 'know' the difference between a dog, a cat and a calf, for instance, despite having little or no experience with such animals. Even photos can be unconvincing as people often don't appreciate the effect of perspective. They will often tell you the size of a creature without knowing its distance, and vice versa.

[Spring Heeled Jack]

Wikipedia is of course rubbish on this subject because it has nothing whatsoever to do with Batman or World of Warcraft, but you could always start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_big_cats

And then there's this:

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzool.../03/post_1.php

Or indeed this:

http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/identi...ascataron.html

And there's that stuffed specimen in the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which looks like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11682701@N00/2799638529/

So what it comes down to is, yes, there are indeed unusually big black cats roaming Scotland, which may or may not be domestic cat/wildcat hybrids, mutants, or some combination thereof; the argument continues. But they certainly exist, they're solid enough to be shot and stuffed, and they've been around for almost 30 years now.

I lived in the North of Scotland in the early '80s, when absolutely nobody took this idea seriously, and the local papers were full of stories about these things. I never saw one myself, but so many people did that there was no doubt locally that they existed. And I never heard anyone claiming that some bizarre supernatural explanation was necessary or desirable - they just accepted the evidence of their own eyes that large black felines were roaming around for some unknown reason, and their main concern was for their sheep.

The only thing they sometimes got wrong was the creature's size. As previously noted, it's difficult to estimate the size of an unknown creature a long way off, so guesses ranged from "too big to be a domestic cat" to "black panther".

And even then, it turned out that there were, as the Wikipedia article points out, some really large exotic cats roaming the area too. It's a well-documented fact that one farmer, tired of the police telling him that he must be mistaken about the identity of the creature that was eating his sheep, built a trap in which he managed to capture a live adult puma. Which, by the way, turned out to be so friendly that it had obviously spent most of its life in some unknown person's house, so we're not talking about a secret breeding population of Scottish pumas - but all the same...

Skeptics need to be a bit careful of things like this! It sounded so improbable that it automatically became "Fortean" and was sneered at by level-headed people. But at the same time, the locals knew what they were seeing, and in retrospect they weren't claiming anything impossible, earth-shattering, or which would make them special by virtue of having seen it, so maybe the benefit of the doubt should have been applied sooner? All they got wrong - and that only sometimes - was how big the beastie was.

And even then, given the improbable kitties that have turned up alive or dead in the area, an actual panther or two roaming around isn't completely out of the question.

Since Cat Man hasn't posted again in almost 3 months, I suspect that he won't read this because the replies he got were unhelpful and tended to assume that it was all a load of nonsense because no photos had been taken - apart from rather a lot that you didn't bother to google - for example, this strikes me as quite a good example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/8172064.stm

And there was that tactful but nevertheless patronising implication that, since people do get the sizes of things wrong, the current crop of sightings were all down to the local yokels misidentifying moggies. "Sorry, I don't get this - why can't a cat cross a road bridge?" OK, logically you're correct, but you didn't have to pick up on that tiny little point in a way that sounds a lot like sneering.

See what you've done? You've scared off a guy who just wanted a reasonable explanation by being condescending and downright smug. Now suppose the next forum he tries is on one of those away-with-the-fairies cryptozoology sites that think Bigfoot can duck into another dimension whenever he feels like it, and that's why nobody's ever shot one or ever will, and therefore every bullshit claim ever made up to and including the talking mongoose of Cashen's Gap is true, but in a special way that you have to take on trust.

The thing is, they're going to enthusiastically welcome him and assume that he's talking about real events, not treat him like an idiot the way you just did. And they're going to give him all the examples I just did, plus many, many more. And then who's going to come across as stupid, huh?

Congratulations, guys! You may have just won the other side another convert. I wish I'd spotted this thread sooner. Oh well, the damage is probably done now. Way to go, Fozzie Bear & friend! And you wonder why people won't listen...

[chaggle]

Wikipedia is of course rubbish on this subject because it has nothing whatsoever to do with Batman or World of Warcraft, but you could always start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_big_cats

And then there's this:

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzool.../03/post_1.php

Or indeed this:

http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/identi...ascataron.html

And there's that stuffed specimen in the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which looks like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11682701@N00/2799638529/

So what it comes down to is, yes, there are indeed unusually big black cats roaming Scotland, which may or may not be domestic cat/wildcat hybrids, mutants, or some combination thereof; the argument continues. But they certainly exist, they're solid enough to be shot and stuffed, and they've been around for almost 30 years now.

I lived in the North of Scotland in the early '80s, when absolutely nobody took this idea seriously, and the local papers were full of stories about these things. I never saw one myself, but so many people did that there was no doubt locally that they existed. And I never heard anyone claiming that some bizarre supernatural explanation was necessary or desirable - they just accepted the evidence of their own eyes that large black felines were roaming around for some unknown reason, and their main concern was for their sheep.

The only thing they sometimes got wrong was the creature's size. As previously noted, it's difficult to estimate the size of an unknown creature a long way off, so guesses ranged from "too big to be a domestic cat" to "black panther".

And even then, it turned out that there were, as the Wikipedia article points out, some really large exotic cats roaming the area too. It's a well-documented fact that one farmer, tired of the police telling him that he must be mistaken about the identity of the creature that was eating his sheep, built a trap in which he managed to capture a live adult puma. Which, by the way, turned out to be so friendly that it had obviously spent most of its life in some unknown person's house, so we're not talking about a secret breeding population of Scottish pumas - but all the same...

Skeptics need to be a bit careful of things like this! It sounded so improbable that it automatically became "Fortean" and was sneered at by level-headed people. But at the same time, the locals knew what they were seeing, and in retrospect they weren't claiming anything impossible, earth-shattering, or which would make them special by virtue of having seen it, so maybe the benefit of the doubt should have been applied sooner? All they got wrong - and that only sometimes - was how big the beastie was.

And even then, given the improbable kitties that have turned up alive or dead in the area, an actual panther or two roaming around isn't completely out of the question.

Since Cat Man hasn't posted again in almost 3 months, I suspect that he won't read this because the replies he got were unhelpful and tended to assume that it was all a load of nonsense because no photos had been taken - apart from rather a lot that you didn't bother to google - for example, this strikes me as quite a good example:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/8172064.stm

And there was that tactful but nevertheless patronising implication that, since people do get the sizes of things wrong, the current crop of sightings were all down to the local yokels misidentifying moggies. "Sorry, I don't get this - why can't a cat cross a road bridge?" OK, logically you're correct, but you didn't have to pick up on that tiny little point in a way that sounds a lot like sneering.

See what you've done? You've scared off a guy who just wanted a reasonable explanation by being condescending and downright smug. Now suppose the next forum he tries is on one of those away-with-the-fairies cryptozoology sites that think Bigfoot can duck into another dimension whenever he feels like it, and that's why nobody's ever shot one or ever will, and therefore every bullshit claim ever made up to and including the talking mongoose of Cashen's Gap is true, but in a special way that you have to take on trust.

The thing is, they're going to enthusiastically welcome him and assume that he's talking about real events, not treat him like an idiot the way you just did. And they're going to give him all the examples I just did, plus many, many more. And then who's going to come across as stupid, huh?

Congratulations, guys! You may have just won the other side another convert. I wish I'd spotted this thread sooner. Oh well, the damage is probably done now. Way to go, Fozzie Bear & friend! And you wonder why people won't listen...

Maybe we didn't bother to google because we've been here before.

http://www.ukskeptics.com/forum/show...ht=8172064.stm

And it's all about the clip you linked to.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/8172064.stm

Try to keep up.

[wheels5894]

I would also have thought such cats unlikely but I watched an Horizon programme on Iplyer last night that might have a bearing. You can still see it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vhw1d/Horizon_20102011_Is_Seeing_Believing/

It looks at all sorts of tricks that the brain uses to see and experience the world. From watching that, I suspect that what has happened is that the witnesses have seen a pattern of leaves or rocks and the brain has interpreted that pattern as a large cat. The fact that others have reported the same will probably influence this view too.

The alternative, that there are several large cats in the area which visit each other to breed by crossing bridges invisibly is the equivalent to the the Loch Ness Monster being thousands of years old.