2 – The FACT you were able to get so close to the animal is rather ‘confusing’ to say the least. No ‘Wild large feline’ – would ever allow it and even in places such as Africa – it’s highly, highly unlikely.
3 – The FACT you only ever took 1 photograph of your ‘Big Cat’ – does not help strengthen the validity of your image – if anything it weakens it.
4 – The FACT that the ‘big cat’ in your image – has a broken tail in 2 places – which bends at 2 different angles. Cat’s tails are simply not able to do this – if they do they are damaged and the cat would be in a lot of pain. This can be seen clearly in the ‘closer’ image below.
5 – From looking in detail at the digital image taken straight from your card and putting it through several professional photo packages we have been able to verify the following;
A) Towards the front of the ‘big cat’ – you can now see an eye and also a tongue and a clearer outline of its face. The ‘big cat’ looks – completely ‘dead & lifeless’ and the head shape & neck are far too thick for the type of feline this ‘represents’.
B) On the back of the animal the sun is reflecting on it – this does not look like fur – more like ‘velvet or brushed cotton’.
C) Looking at the ‘paws’ of the animal, they do not look real.
D) There is no blood anywhere to be seen.
E) The general ‘thickness’ of the animal is too big.
F) It is not sat right and looks to be lying in a very uncomfortable & awkward position.
6 – Having been to the location myself I can confirm:
a) It is certainly the place where the image was taken.
b) There were remains of a dead animal possibly pigeon.
c) There was no other evidence of ANY cat at the scene – no paw prints – no tree scratching – no smell – in fact not much at all.
d) There was evidence of the woods at that location being ‘used’ by humans regularly in some way – walking dogs, camp fires, shelters.
After considering all of the above, I firmly believe that the photograph (P1010007) is actually of a large, stuffed ‘cuddly toy’ – full size – Black Panther. These are easily available from various sources.
I do however firmly believe that in your immediate & surrounding areas – there are big cats – most of which that are sighted are either Large Black Panther ‘type’ Cats (possibly melanistic Leopards) – or Brown / Sandy coloured cats, (which we believe to be Pumas). On occasion not too far away we have also had a few definite sightings reported of Lynx. So there are big cats around and they do move around the ‘welsh boarders’ often, it’s a very active area for big cats.
Unfortunately your photograph is not one of them.
Yours faithfully,
Danny Bamping
Founder & Media spokesman
The British Big Cats Society
:laugh_at:
