SCIENTISTS have said big cats are lurking among us in the UK countryside after DNA belonging to lions and snow leopards was found on a carcass.
Prof Robin Allaby found proof of big cat DNA in the wild in the UK and he claims that up to one hundred of the apex predators are on the loose and prowling through the British countryside.
Big cats could be among us in the UK according to scientists[/caption]
The expert from Warwick University analysed a sample taken from a sheep’s carcass in the Lake District.
He discovered ‘Panthera genus’ DNA – meaning it had to have come from a lion, leopard, tiger, jaguar or snow leopard.
The remains of the sheep were discovered by Sharon Larkin-Snowden in Cumbria last October.
She disturbed whatever had been feeding on the carcass and the animal ran towards a stone wall before disappearing.
Sharon took a swab of the carcass and sent it to big cat expert Rick Minter who passed it on to Prof Allaby, Professor of Life Sciences.
He analysed the sample at his laboratory and discovered both fox and Panthera DNA.
He said the findings suggested the sheep had been eaten by both a fox and a big cat such as a leopard.
Prof Allaby said: “With the evidence we have now I’m 99 per cent sure. I always leave one per cent room for the possibility you may turn out to be wrong no matter how convincing the evidence is.
“I don’t think this is an easily faked piece of evidence from what I’ve seen. We know the evidence we’ve seen so far is hard to fake.
“It seems very likely on the balance of probabilities that on the basis of this there are panthers in the UK at the moment.
“Population viability analysis tells us that in general a minimum viable population needs to be probably something over 50-100 individuals.”
Prof Allaby added: “This summer was really quite exciting. In the news there were reports of DNA of the Panthera genus recovered from the swab of a sheep carcass in the southern Lake District.
“Is it real? Could it be a hoax?
“Ours was the lab that detected it and we think it is real. Firstly there is absolutely no doubt that the DNA sequence was that of the Panthera genus.
“So could it have been planted? Well that doesn’t seem likely either for a number of reasons.
“Obtaining panther DNA is not going to be as easy as it sounds. Get some from a zoo? Fine, go ahead, try it.
“Enclosures are large and the edges that the paying population will be able to get to are not going to be laced with panther DNA.
“Even if we imagine a Victorian cage zoo with bars that our panther is licking, you could swab those bars, but it’s not going to be enough DNA with which to lace a carcass.
“What you need is fluids for which you will need the cooperation of a professional. It’s not likely that professionals are going to risk their jobs to provide such samples.
“Secondly if the sample had been laced, then we would expect plenty of DNA for us to be sure we would find it.
“That was certainly not the case and takes some understanding of DNA taphonomy. However, to be truly convincing we need to find more samples.
“To be utterly convincing we need multiple samples, genome level information and a demonstration through that evidence that these are part of a coherent population.”
Rick Minter, of Big Cat conversations podcast, added: “The Cumbrian DNA result showed the value of testing saliva from a carcass which had really fresh saliva.
“Sharon Larkin-Snowden actually watched what she described as a black leopard slink away, close to the scene, so she assumes she disturbed it when checking the field.
“She swabbed the carcass later in the day, when she returned with a swab kit.
“But even in that time, the swabs yielded both fox and Panthera results indicating how soon the fox scavenging began.
“Mating black leopards produce black litters exclusively. So has a strain of black leopards emerged in Britain by accident, now culling deer in our woods, from the irresponsible past release of trophy pets?”
BIG CAT SIGHTINGS
Cumbria Police receive a steady stream of reports about a black panther-type cat prowling the Lake District.
In 2016, one police chief believed he caught the “beast of Cumbria” on camera.
Kevin Pitt a former chief superintendent with Cleveland Constabulary, photographed what he believes to be a large, non-native black cat on a railway embankment at Eden, Cumbria.
Other sightings of big cats have taken place over the years.
The Beast of Exmoor is a large, mysterious feline that has been reported in the moors of Somerset and Devon since the 1970s.
In 2021, it was spotted stalking the countryside in one of the most convincing big cat sightings to date.
The black cat was filmed by Lisa and Nathan Deere, who said it was bigger than a domestic animal.
A neighbour spotted it days before in the same field near Yeovil, Somerset, but Lisa was unconvinced until she saw it, too.
She and fiancé Nathan filmed the cat for a few minutes in what is some of the clearest footage yet.
Earlier this year, footage showed a suspected “big cat” watching walkers after being spotted at a remote Yorkshire beauty spot.
The large animal, which onlookers believed was “twice the size” of a domesticated moggy, was seen on farmland near the town of Askrigg, North Yorkshire.
One passerby, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the sighting had come after a sheep was found “ripped to shreds” in a nearby field.
And a dog-walker snapped a photo of what he claimed was a huge black cat in the grounds of Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, in October 2018.
Meanwhile in February this year a 71-year-old pensioner allegedly spotted a large big cat roaming a residential area in Kirriemuir, Angus.
The ‘Beast of Exmoor’ running across a filed near Yeovil, Somerset[/caption]
The animal, believed to be a big cat, was spotted in Cumbria by Kevin Pitt in 2016[/caption]
