Britain’s big cat sightings: Map reveals where terrified locals have spotted ‘beasts’ prowling the countryside after sighting in the Lake District

 For centuries, folklores of wild beasts roaming the British countryside have been commonplace in many towns and villages. 

From the notorious Beast of Exmoor to the Demon of Dartmoor, various sightings of exotic animals have stoked suspicions that there could be a number of big cats roaming the countryside. 

And in the digital age, where people have powerful cameras at their disposal, solid evidence of these claims has become more and more tangible – include new DNA evidence revealed yesterday.   

Experts have admitted a few big cats are likely to be living wild in rural Britain. They are mostly thought to have been exotic pets which have since escaped.  

The map below has pinpointed a selection of big cat sightings in the UK since 2001, providing just a glimpse of the thousands of reports that date all the way back to the 1940s.

So far this year multiple sightings of big cats have been reported across the country – this includes a motorist who spotted a ‘big cat’ prowling through the Worcestershire countryside in what could be a fresh sighting of the infamous Worcestershire Panther. 

Meanwhile in February a 71-year-old pensioner allegedly spotted a large big cat roaming a residential area in Kirriemuir, Angus. 

Danny Bamping, from The British Big Cats Society, explained to MailOnline why Britain has seen an increase in the sightings. 

He said: ‘I think people are more likely to come forward now as recent sightings have been in the press a lot more recently.

‘The growing use of dashcams and cameras at home means it has also become easier to spot them.’

He added: ‘Everyone has a good quality camera in their phones now so they can take good pictures and videos. Although some of these sightings might not be wild cats or big cats as the size of the cat could be distorted on the video so it deceptively looks like a big cat.

‘I’m not saying they are liars but it’s hard to trust everybody.

‘A lot of these sightings could be hybrids of exotic pets who escaped from people’s homes. Lots of documented cases of exotic pets escaping into the wild so cats could have also done so. We know they can interbreed with other cats so hybrids are possible. This might explain the smaller size of some of the sightings.’  

Away from photographic proof, a scientist claims to have found definitive proof that a leopard prowls the Lake District –  after they matched DNA found on a dead sheep to a non-native large feline.

Professor Robin Allaby analysed a sample taken from the sheep’s carcass and discovered ‘Panthera genus’ DNA – meaning it had to have come from a lion, leopard, tiger, jaguar or snow leopard.

He said a leopard was most likely on British soil and that the exciting finding was the first scientific proof that large, non-native cats roam the UK.

The remains of the sheep were discovered by Cumbrian resident Sharon Larkin-Snowden in an undisclosed upland location in October.

She disturbed whatever had been feeding on the carcass and the animal ran towards a stone wall before disappearing.

‘I saw something black, running, and I assumed at first it was a sheepdog,’ she said. ‘Then I did a double take and realised it was a black cat. It ran towards a stone wall, stopped and then jumped the wall. It was big – the size of a German shepherd dog.’

Blurred photographic proof posted online to a Facebook group called Big Cats in Cumbria, that matches other alleged sightings in the countryside around Bowness-on-Windermere in the southern Lake District.     

However, Mr Bampling has his doubts about the fresh DNA evidence. He said: ‘I am skeptical of this proof. 

‘I would want to see more proof that is well documented to conclusively prove it was a leopard or big cat but those documents haven’t been disclosed.

‘While the test results might show that it is from a leopard I don’t trust it on its own. To scientifically prove there actually are big cats in the UK I would want to see a dead animal or a captured wild big cat – which would be hard to do.’

He continued: We (The British Big Cats Society) have evidence of over 19 smaller cats that have been found in the UK, such as Lynxes, pumas and Ocelots, but they are not classed as big cats. So I am yet to see proof.’

Speaking to MailOnline last year, Mr Bamping revealed that a photo which documentary-makers claimed to be the clearest ever photo of a big cat in Britain was fake.

He said that the picture emerged in 2012 after it was sent to the Centre for Fortean Zoology in Devon.

He said that it was originally debunked by Karl Shuker, a British cryptozoologist and author, who studies the presence of mysterious animal sightings around the world.

Experts speculated that the photo, which shows a large black cat lying in long grass in Smallthorne, Staffordshire, could have been ‘probably the best photo of a British big cat that exists’ if genuine.

But Shuker found that it was in fact taken from a now-defunct website called art.com, with the exact location of where it was taken unknown.

Mr Bamping told MailOnline: ‘You can see it is photoshopped. I doesn’t look real and it has that haze around it.’

‘Also why is there only one photo? If you have a cat sitting there you’re not going to take just one photo.’

‘Our view is that there are big cats out there. A big cat is only a big cat if it has the ability to roar so that doesn’t include pumas and lynxes.

‘The evidence over the last 20 or 30 years points to the fact that there are big cats in Britain, around 70 per cent of these are largely big black cats.’

The documentary also claimed  to have new DNA evidence proving the presence of at least one wild big cat near a sheep kill in Gloucestershire in July 2022, but Danny isn’t convinced.

‘I would be very sceptical about that. They are going to have to provide documentation of every step of the way.’

Mr Bamping said that he had been working on his own documentary film looking into the presence of big cats in the UK titled ‘The big cat flap*.

He said that over the last 20 years or so, the society had found around 19 bodies of dead big cats around the UK.

The expert has also estimated that there are between 50 and 100 exotic cats across the UK, with most of them likely to be black leopards.

The picture, which has now proved to be a fake, was discovered by Carl Marshall, a British big cat enthusiast, who works with the Centre for Fortean Zoology.

It was accompanied by a handwritten note dated March 17 – but it is unclear which year it was taken.

The image has been featured in an award-winning documentary Panthera Britannia Declassified.

Mr Marshall 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 the probably the best photo of a British big cat that exists.’

Producer Tim Whittard 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 and real experts, and tried to be as objective and analytical as possible.

‘The research process for this show was intensive and exhaustive, and took us thousands of hours in various archives, libraries, museums, and laboratories, as well as in the field and meeting hundreds of eyewitnesses.

‘The result is a mind-blowing voyage of discovery for viewers, which really takes this forward as serious zoological issue.’

‘The story is a sad one really – these majestic big cats could be legally owned without a license in the UK until 1976 and were very popular, being seen as fashionable status symbols at the time.

‘When the laws surrounding exotic animal ownership changed a lot of people released their big cats into the countryside.

‘So essentially, the animals people are seeing today are the offspring of abandoned pets for the most part.’

One recent sighting last November appeared to catch footage of a ‘hybrid panther’ traversing the Scottish countryside near the village of Blackdog – just six miles from Aberdeen. 

Gordon Welsh took the video which apparently captured a large feline creature he describes as the size of a greyhound or bigger. 

He said: ‘I was just walking at the time and saw it limping – that’s what caught my eye. I was like “the hell is that?” but then I was like “it’s not a cat, it’s too big'”.’  

The footage, was shared on a dedicated Facebook group for Scottish big cat sightings, has sparked varied reactions. Some viewers confidently identified the creature as a black panther, emphasising its size, whereas others suggested it was a domestic cat, albeit a large one. 

However, Mr Welsh, a ghillie, deerstalker and farm-hand, is confident he can differentiate between various cat species.

He said: ‘From the way it was moving, the tail size and that, it was slightly like a panther but it could be a crossbreed. I’ve seen them plenty of times. I’ve seen lynx, I’ve seen panthers, I’ve seen crossbreeds – they’re all over the place.’

 Another sighting in Scotland stoked fears among residents that a black leopardis roaming the fields of a small village in Scotland. 

Two locals claimed to have seen what they thought to be a big cat near the village of Brydekirk on July 13 2023.

Paul Macdonald, head of the Scottish Big Cat Research Team, said at the time that preliminary findings suggested the creature was in fact a black leopard.

He said: ‘We are convinced it was a genuine report and that it is something of interest to us given the size of the cat and the description of it.

Mr Macdonald told The Sun: ‘I’ve been involved in generating the national big cat mapping database and, essentially, we’re at the stage now that we have 1,300 credible sightings mapped all over Scotland.

‘It’s difficult from any sighting to confirm if it’s the same cat that’s been mapped before – that in itself is difficult to say.

‘A cat’s life could span 12 to 15 years and that single cat could be responsible for one or 20 sightings.’

In 2006 a footprint, believed to belong to a big cat, was discovered by police and animal welfare experts in woods near Balbirnie Park golf course in Fife.

The print was verified by experts who said it ‘definitely belonged to a big cat, ‘most likely to be a leopard’.

Fife Police’s wildlife crime officer, Mark Maylin, said: ‘There had been several sightings at one time on the Balbirnie Estate near Glenrothes of a big cat so we went down and discovered this print.

‘At the time there was a local man who said he had been walking his St Bernard dog in the area but I was convinced it had come from a big cat so I took a plaster cast of it to two experts who said immediately it was from an exotic cat.

‘They couldn’t be species-specific because there wasn’t specific clarity in the heel pad but said judging by the size the animal was 18 months old and was the offspring of an animal released illegally in the 90s.

A mystery beast believed to have savaged 18 sheep was photographed by a student and her sister near Embo in Ross-shire in 2011.

Student Lisa Sydenham, 29, caught the creature on camera when she was walking in the area with her sister Alana.

Lisa said: ‘It was definitely not just a large domestic cat or dog. At first I thought it was a very large dog but from the way it was walking and the shape of its body I could tell that it was a big cat.’

‘It was quite a distance away over a field. My sister Alana and I were at first very surprised and then excited.

‘I looked into it and found there had been another sighting in the area last September.

‘It looked and moved like a cat. It spotted me and crouched down in the grass before walking off. We must have watched it for about five minutes in all.’ 

The sisters were walking just a few miles from fields where a farmer said he had suffered repeated attacks on his flock, leading to speculation that the creature sighted could have been responsible.

George Ross of Rheguile Farm, near Edderton, said nothing but the skins of his sheep remained after a series of incidents. In all cases their throats had been crushed.

In 2001 a man took a photo of what he thought was a big cat in the Irvine area of Ayrshire in Soctland. 

While in 2011 a local councillor saw a panther-like cat on the outskirts of Galashiels and just four years later a woman reported seeing a similar creature run past her in the same area. 

More recently, a woman recorded footage of the notorious ‘black panther of Rutland’ lurking in a farmland near her home in August 2021. 

Mum-of-three Michelle Lee, 36, recorded the footage on her phone of a five-foot-long creature prowling around a bush in a farmers field. 

The mobile hairdresser said she had been looking for bats with her son Bobby, 12, when she noticed the creature skulking in the undergrowth outside her window. She quickly picked up her phone to film it. 

Police have also often responded to claims of big cat sightings from members of the public worried about the welfare of local wildlife. 

In 2016, Greater Manchester Police were called to Radcliffe following reports that a ‘large cat’ had been seen trying to hunt the animals in farmers’ fields off Bury New Road.

The caller said the creature was ‘definitely not a dog and definitely not a cat’ and was adamant that it was a black panther.

But the beast had supposedly vanished when officers arrived at the scene. 

A factory worker snapped a convincing picture of a wild puma hiding in a field near Hull back in 2013. 

Lee Clifford, of North Cave in Yorkshire, claimed to have captured the clearest photo of a wildcat ever taken in Britain while he was out walking in the countryside. 

He also also found the remains of other animals and clumps of fur when he went to check the same spot, but could find no sign of the puma itself. 

Three years later, a man claimed he spotted a five-inch wide foot print while walking at the woods in Treviscoe, Cornwall.

A man from Misterton in North Nottinghamshire described seeing two ‘large, cat-like animals’ standing over his chickens in his garden in July 2022. 

Further video evidence of a big cat in Hereford emerged when a local man recorded footage of a cat-like creature moving across a field farmland near Newtown Crossroads in December 2009. 

And in the same year a man from New Denham, Buckinghamshire, took a photo of what experts claimed at the time was the most compelling evidence of a big cat sighting.