UK Big Cat Reseach Group

Here is something that I am quite serious about. For certain people, I guess that it would be a "conspiracy theory" of sorts. In the late 1960's and early 1970's there was a big cat fad in England & the US. The rich would either capture or buy big cats (panthers, cheetahs, leopards, etc) and keep them as pets. In 1976 the Dangerous Wild Animal Act was passed in England. This act required anyone owning a big cat to get a liscense, and the government wanted to ensure that these cats were being taken care of properly. Many people did not have the means to take care of the animals, and a loophole was found in the act whereby you did not have to report any "missing" animals. So, many cat-owners took their panthers, cheetahs, and leopards out into the English counrtyside and released their pets. Here is a section from http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/04/bigcats.shtml about the law: Speaking to BBC News, Forest-based big cat enthusiast Danny Nineham said, "In the 1960s and 1970s, people had big cats like leopards as pets and they used to walk them like dogs. "But in 1976 when the Dangerous Wild Animals Act came into force, people released their cats because they did not want to pay for a licence, put them down, or take them to a zoo." Within ten years the population grew. Farm animals were being killed and eaten. The sad part is that the government officially reported that there were no big cats live in the United Kingdom -- the cats have spread to Scotland and Whales. There is a suggestion that the cats have mated and now there is a hybrid big cat ruling over the English countryside. The farmers have been the country's biggest defense that these cats exist. Hundreds of reports come in over a matter of months. Photos, film, and pawprints have been taken, although none have been captured and documented. There are several groups throughout the UK that have made it their life's quest to gather enough proof that these animals exist. from the British Big Cats Society: http://www.britishbigcats.org/ from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1787144.stm National Geographic:other sites: http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/engcat.htm http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/167_bigcats2002.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/04/bigcats.shtml http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/121_abc99.shtml http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/gwd/wildact.htm Dangerous Wild Animal Act of 1976: http://www.webtribe.net/~shg/Dangerous%20Wild%20Animals%20Act%201976%20(1976%20c%2038).htm