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(Some stories of non-native Big Cats alleged to be roaming the Midlands)
Some years ago many fans of my books and programmes about the paranormal started to write to me about unexplained sightings of large, non-urban wild cats roaming around the Midlands. My first reaction was that they were either people with vivid imaginations or at the outside, a one-off escaped wild animal. Then and now, I do not believe there is anything paranormal about these big cats of the Midlands but what I would like to do is tell you a few examples of the experiences and visions of ordinary, everyday people who I believe are being totally truthful, and also tell you of some of my own experiences and sightings of wild cats. But I suppose, being honest about it, the stories of wild cats in Britain probably starts at Bodmin Moor and the story of the so-called Beast of Bodmin Moor. In the early Eighties dozens of people reported seeing the Beast - to some a puma, to others a large black beast of the Conan Doyle type, and to some a ghostly animal spirit. One thing for sure can be said about all these opinions and that is people were quite positive they had seen them and they quickly vanished without trace before their eyes. However, the local authorities of Cornwall and Devon pooh-poohed these matters, yet at various times, a detachment of royal marine snipers, a helicopter and even a national newspaper offered a thousand pounds reward for a picture of the Beast.
Next, the Beast was reported as being regularly seen in Somerset. Was it heading north perhaps, picking its way towards the Midlands? The good folk of Somerset even brought in a real Red Indian specialist tracker to find the animal, but to no avail, and by now in about 1984 or 1985 reports were coming in, not only of the big, black cat but also creatures that sounded like cougars, lynxes and American bobcats. The evidence seemed overwhelming that there was not only one big cat but lots of others and of many different breeds as well. A gentleman who was an expert in these matters, at the time told me he thought that the differing cats were breeding to produce their own super kittens, very capable of living, hunting and hiding away in almost any area of the UK, and this leads me to say they are almost certainly also living and roaming the Midlands.
But where did they come from? The most likely explanation I would think is that they were released into the wild in some numbers in the Sixties and Seventies, but especially in the year 1976 when the Dangerous Wild Animals Act was put in place to restrict the private keeping of such animals by any individual who thought they had the right to own one. Before that time it was quite possible to keep anything from a lion to Scottish wildcat and I know in Dudley and Wolverhampton for instance, that people did do just that. But in 1976 you needed a licence and proper housing for such creatures, which was difficult to obtain in the case of the licence, and expensive to build in the case of the housing for these animals. It must be said that it is likely there were people who would not have complied with such requirements and quite simply released their exotic pets into the wild. A terribly irresponsible thing to do perhaps but the view I believe is the truthful answer to why these cats are there in some numbers now. I also believe that Cannock Chase and other country areas would have been prize targets for such acts. People, I suppose, would hope their pets would have a chance of survival and that they would be better off than in zoos. All cats are renowned for an ability to turn feral and that includes even your own pet puss at home who would do just that if you were to turn him or her out into a forest, so it must be remembered these creatures are just the same, the bottom line being they are cats, and as such are animals who easily return to basic instincts of living, hunting, hiding and breeding, especially in places that have readily available sources of food, for example an abundance of rabbits or the occasional deer or sheep.
So what are these cats? Well, I would say that every foreign feline breed you can imagine in some place or another in the British Isles is out there. It is even a fact that as far back as the early 19th Century, a lion was shot in Astley Abbots near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, the story being it was a big cat that had escaped from a zoo or travelling circus. But what of the ones that escaped and weren't reported or shot? Even back in those distant days such things happened. But lions in the wild? No, I do not think so, but black pumas are well reported. It should be remembered, however, that in truth pumas are usually brown, grey or fawn in colour, not black. Some leopards are black rather than spotted though, especially panthers and can incidentally be man-eaters. Could this explain some of the missing persons that we can never understand throughout Britain and are never found? I hope not, but it's a possibility. Certainly in other parts of the world they have turned to such activities. Another common sighting is a cat like a lynx, again, a tawny creature in colour that has small, tufted ears, a short tail and piercing eyes. Another Midlands favourite is what can only be described as a typical Scottish wildcat, very much like our own tabbies but much bigger, stronger and very aggressive. However, there has been similar talk of such cats, especially in the Black Country, that are similar in size and manner but are black and as I say of course there are many others.
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