'Proof' surfaces of big cat predator prowling around UK countryside
15.08.2023 - 09:45
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Photographic "proof" has emerged which claims to show big cats are prowling the UK countryside. Researchers said the image was discovered in the files of a zoology organisation and shows a black cat, similar to a panther.
The muscular animal is photographed lying in long grass in a snap dated March 17. However it is unclear what year it is from, going by the handwritten note.
Experts say if it is genuine, it is "probably the best photo of a British big cat that exists", reports the Mirror. The image, taken in Smallthorne, Staffordshire, is one of several pieces pf evidence supporting the theory that large cats still live in the British countryside.
The topic is discussed in a new award-winning documentary 'Panthera Britannia Declassified'. The picture was found by the assistant director of a centre for zoology when he was working in their archives.
He said: "The photo is unambiguous, it is clearly a large cat of the Panthera genus, and it's so clear we can even see its whiskers. The photo was attached to a mysterious handwritten letter, which includes a date without the year, isn't signed with a full name, and doesn't have the sender's address.
"But it does state the photo was taken and if it's genuine, then it's probably the best photo of a British big cat that exists."
The film, released by Dragonfly Films on Amazon Prime, also has new DNA evidence proving the presence of at least one wild big cat near a sheep-kill in Gloucestershire in July 2022.
Tim Whittard, producer of 'Panthera Britannia Declassified', said: "This astonishing lost photograph and amazing new scientific discovery form only a fraction of the collective evidence on display in the film.
"The documentary is predominantly data-driven. We used real science