Beast of Banff

[Scots_Charles_River]

Big cat video from the beeb. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6680000/newsid_6685900?redirect=668593 3.stm&news=1&bbram=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1)
:D

[-Switch-]

Sorry to sound cynical here but it didn't look very 'big' to me. Looked like a large, black domestic cat.
I don't disbelieve that there are big cats in the UK - there must be, considering how many were released into the wild in the seventies - but no one ever seems to come up with any convincing footage :(

[leon-b]

to sound cynical here but it didn't look very 'big' to me. Looked like a large, black domestic cat

exactly what i though, would have been better if they measured the height on the fence where the cat reached
leon

[Nightwalker]

If people really think that was a larger cat why dont they setup more cameras nearer to where it was spotted. Surely it must use the same path's every now and then. oh and when they do or dont have evidence, take the camera's away :p

[Nightwalker]

exactly what i though, would have been better if they measured the height on the fence where the cat reached
leonYeah I think the fence looks big in comparison to the animal. The tail does look long/big though?

[-Switch-]

Yeah I think the fence looks big in comparison to the animal. The tail does look long/big though?

Which gives the illusion of it being a 'big' cat. My Mums old cat had a very long tail and a silhouette or shadow of her looked not unlike a puma.

[Risclean]

I saw that video on the news and I thought that's a domestic cat. So I took one of our cats (head and body 50 cm, 30 cm to shoulder) out, put her beside a fence and looked from a little way off with binoculars. Now I'm sure it's a domestic cat in the film.

For comparison a lynx is 70 to 110 cm head and body length and 60 - 75 cm to the shoulder. A puma is 95 -195 cm head and body and 60 - 70 cm to the shoulder. An agricultural fence is about 1 metre high.

[Barn Owl]

Looking at some things through an optical device can give a false sense of perpesctive.
I clocked a cat in a field of cows from a hide once and when i looked at it through the scope it appeared 'big' in comparison to the cattle lying and standing.
However i did see a 'cat' disappear into the hedgerow one night when nightshift and the tail was classic panther style...I can't say if was a biggie or not but it was sighted in an area where they have been said to occur.
Tom.

[KAE1]

A friend of mine chases these stories around the country and he does have one clip of a black cat walking alongside a tractor, a wooden board is then place beside the tractor at the beasts shoulder heiight and it was bigger than a domestic - I can't remember the height but I will see if I can get it to post.
He was also adamant of this story below from start to finish
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4830320.stm

The black cat hit on the road on Exmoor only weighed 10lbs, its strange but most of the Big Cats aren't that big at all, more like big moggies but built along puma lines.

[hammock monkey]

The black cat hit on the road on Exmoor only weighed 10lbs, its strange but most of the Big Cats aren't that big at all, more like big moggies but built along puma lines.

totally agree, they are surprisingly small sometimes - and i dont mean just young, although that could be a factor. the shape and build is the key.
if you ever go to Barcelona have a look in the zoo, the jaguar there is very small. maybe its something to do with the fact its kept in a bloody raquet ball court while some people find it amusing to rattle plastic bags at him to wind him up. gutted.

[Risclean]

The film seems to be shot with a long lens, which is why I used binoculars to look at my cat. I think a 10 lb cat is not by definition a big cat, although there are many species of small wildcats all over the world.
I think I'm correct that the only regularly occuring black big cat is the jaguar which has a head and body length of 112 - 185 cm, and a shoulder height of 68 - 76 cm. These big cats weigh 50 - 100 kg, which sheep sized:Wow: