Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
"A photograph of an animal taken on Dartmoor is "almost certainly" not a big cat, according to a local expert.
The picture was taken by falconer Martin Whitley, who stumbled across the creature by accident near Hound Tor.
The area inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles, but Mr Whitley said there was "definitely nothing supernatural" about the animal.
But Danny Bamping, founder of the British Big Cats Society, said he "just couldn't see it" being a big cat";
Full story;
http/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6923095.stm?lsm
Personally, to me the beast in the photo looks like a stray black sheep to me, like this;
http/www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/920/55064132.JPG
I does sort of have the build of a hairy wild boar;
http/www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2005/12/330490.jpg
But my money is on the black sheep .
What do you think about this mysterious beast on Dartmoor?
Personally i don't think its that unlikely that there could be big wild cats roaming the pleasent green feilds of England, afterall i'm sure in the past there have been plenty of people who bought exotic pets like big cats as cubs, only to find they grew to large and dangerous to look after, and then the owner released them into the wild like so many people do with large exotic tankbusting fish in the hobby when they can no longer look after the animal. Or perhaps someone's secret large pet cat just escaped.
I know my brother have a freaky experience on the farm once. Years ago he was walking the dogs during the middle of winter, and being winter it suddenly become very dark very quickly while he was out walking the dogs. After a while he came back looking quite shocked and concerned, he said while he had been out walking the dogs he saw this large sleek black animal approaching him across a field in the gloom, he said it had large eye's which reflected light like cats eyes and the animal made a weird growling noise. Apparently the dogs completely freaked out, whining and trying to drag him back home, they were definately terrified of whatever the animal was.
My brother was totally convinced he'd seen a big cat, however, after that experience he nor i or anyone else ever saw anything more of the mystery animal....
There were also reports in the are from other farmers finding sheep which had been killed in a rather unusual manner.
So in a way i don't really know what to make of this. My eye's are open to the posibility of big cats and other such large exotic animals secretely roaming our countryside.
At least in America, the trade in illegal (particularly exotic) wildlife is booming, and it is becomming clear that it is worrying easy to do this too;
http/news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...al-smuggle.html
The global trade in smuggled wildlife is booming, with worldwide sales estimated to be anywhere from U.S. $10 billion to U.S. $20 billion. This also means that more and more big cats are being illegally traded from country to country, with the cats probably ending up in the hands of people who do not really know how to look after them. All this makes me wonder how many illegal exotic animals are ending up in my own country, England. Seriously though, customs is a joke here, i remember coming back from a holiday last year and we walked right through customs and there wasn't even anyone there! Worrying huh....?
The picture was taken by falconer Martin Whitley, who stumbled across the creature by accident near Hound Tor.
The area inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles, but Mr Whitley said there was "definitely nothing supernatural" about the animal.
But Danny Bamping, founder of the British Big Cats Society, said he "just couldn't see it" being a big cat";
Full story;
http/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6923095.stm?lsm
Personally, to me the beast in the photo looks like a stray black sheep to me, like this;
http/www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/920/55064132.JPG
I does sort of have the build of a hairy wild boar;
http/www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2005/12/330490.jpg
But my money is on the black sheep .
What do you think about this mysterious beast on Dartmoor?
Personally i don't think its that unlikely that there could be big wild cats roaming the pleasent green feilds of England, afterall i'm sure in the past there have been plenty of people who bought exotic pets like big cats as cubs, only to find they grew to large and dangerous to look after, and then the owner released them into the wild like so many people do with large exotic tankbusting fish in the hobby when they can no longer look after the animal. Or perhaps someone's secret large pet cat just escaped.
I know my brother have a freaky experience on the farm once. Years ago he was walking the dogs during the middle of winter, and being winter it suddenly become very dark very quickly while he was out walking the dogs. After a while he came back looking quite shocked and concerned, he said while he had been out walking the dogs he saw this large sleek black animal approaching him across a field in the gloom, he said it had large eye's which reflected light like cats eyes and the animal made a weird growling noise. Apparently the dogs completely freaked out, whining and trying to drag him back home, they were definately terrified of whatever the animal was.
My brother was totally convinced he'd seen a big cat, however, after that experience he nor i or anyone else ever saw anything more of the mystery animal....
There were also reports in the are from other farmers finding sheep which had been killed in a rather unusual manner.
So in a way i don't really know what to make of this. My eye's are open to the posibility of big cats and other such large exotic animals secretely roaming our countryside.
At least in America, the trade in illegal (particularly exotic) wildlife is booming, and it is becomming clear that it is worrying easy to do this too;
http/news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...al-smuggle.html
The global trade in smuggled wildlife is booming, with worldwide sales estimated to be anywhere from U.S. $10 billion to U.S. $20 billion. This also means that more and more big cats are being illegally traded from country to country, with the cats probably ending up in the hands of people who do not really know how to look after them. All this makes me wonder how many illegal exotic animals are ending up in my own country, England. Seriously though, customs is a joke here, i remember coming back from a holiday last year and we walked right through customs and there wasn't even anyone there! Worrying huh....?