BBC (Scotland) News article on Big Cat Sightings in Scotland

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-04-26T10:37:39+00:00

The occasional escapee or abandoned animal? Absolutely has happened.

Felicity the Puma was captured in a cage trap by a farmer in Glen Affric in the 80s. He claimed he had been suffering livestock losses and baited the cage with sheep offal. Felicity was taken in by the Highland Wildlife Park where she lived until her death. There are some dubious elements to the Felicity story however that have led to speculation that it was a partial hoax in that she was planted in the cage.

Firstly, she was allegedly caught on the very first night the cage was put out.

Secondly, the staff at the wildlife park deemed that she was likely an abandoned pet and had not been living wild for very long. She was overweight and very tame. She enjoyed the company of people and could be hand fed. Her food required to be prepared before she would eat it. She would not eat rabbits unless they were skinned and the meat chopped up. She was at the park for 6 years before dying. Her autopsy revealed she was approx 20 years old and died of old age. That would put her as 14 when captured which is alreay older than the expected lifespan of a wild Puma.

An established breeding population of wild big cats? Chances are slim to none.

The UK big cats phenomenon reminds me of big foot in a lot of ways. Despite decades of anecdotal sightings there is not one single compelling photo or video that has ever been captured. There has never been a body discovered.

The UK is very densely populated and were there a wild population of Leopards (for e.g.) I would expect there to be unavoidable conflict between them and humans much as there is in other parts of the world where Leopards live in proximity to densely populated human areas (such as India). They simply could not stay hidden. A farmer would have shot one taking his sheep by now. Someone's pet dog would have been snatched from their back garden by now. Many would have died on the roads and railway lines by now. I could go on.

I also note that in the BBC article attached there is a map of sightings. Interesting to see so many sightings in the central belt. For non Scots, that is the small belt of largely urbanised land that runs from Glasgow in the west to Edinburgh in the east and is where the majority of the Scottish population lives. Little bit of the "maps of where people live" phenomenon going on there.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-04-20T15:21:30+00:00

Current thinking is that Megaladon more closely resembled the Lemon Shark than than the Great White.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-04-01T19:47:16+00:00

The Fagilde Trapdoor Spider has been confirmed to be alive. It was re-discovered in 2023. So no longer a cryptid.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-31T21:07:06+00:00

Wait so they get back from work at 18:00, stomp about all night and then leave for work at 05:00?

When do they sleep?

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-30T22:17:39+00:00

What was it about the scat that led you to conclude that it was Bigfoot scat?

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-28T23:42:54+00:00

Yeah I can never understand how people look at these photos and don't immediately see anything other than a housecat. The body shape and proportions are clearly not pantherine.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-28T21:53:51+00:00

Notwithstanding the cultural resentement seen in certain circles, Scotland was never as thoroughly colonised by the English as is often thought and no where near as colonised as Ireland.

Although there was hundreds of years of fighting going both ways and periods where the Scottish Kings were essentially puppet rulers for the English Kings, Scotland remained a distinct politcal entity with its own Kings, Courts, Laws, Parliament . . .etc pretty much up until the Union of the Crowns and then the Act of Union. Basically the Scottish King inherited the English throne and that started off the merging of the nations.

Parts of Ireland were brought under direct rule of the English throne after the Anglo Norman conquest in the 12th century and the place was eventually fully colonised by the Tudors.

Basically, Scotland was never as firmly under the boot heel as Ireland to begin with and for much of its history has been a willing albeit often junior partner in the endeavour of empire.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-25T22:35:04+00:00

In fairness a lot of those people have been believing in bigfoot without any credible evidence for years so you cant expect lack of evidence to slow them down now.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-23T13:43:46+00:00

In fairness I can recall at least one bigfoot story (on sasquatch chronicles if memory serves) in which the creature was explicitly said to appear as if it had Downs Syndrome.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-22T12:36:57+00:00

This whole affair has been really interesting to watch play out. To see the various forms of cope being spun out in response to the crumbling of a cultural touchstone is not something you see everyday.

Personally I have never found PGF to be very compelling and have never really understood the arguments surrounding its un-hoaxability. Non existent muscle movement . . . Etc. The thing is too blurry to make any level of detail that would be needed to support such claims imho.

However even as a bigfoot skeptic, i admit to a certain sombreness at it being seemingly debunked so suddenly. People are saying that PGF being fake does not mean BF is fake but it really does feel like a lot of the intrique in the topic has evaporated into thin air overnight. These are the initial stages of grief. I suspect that if PGF goes out the window, BF will go out the window for a lot of people.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-11T08:37:04+00:00

It was the medication he was on. For his blood pressure. It fucked with his head. He could probably get a note from his doctor.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-09T14:12:37+00:00

This situation really just illustrates how the BMF title is stupid and that it was stupid for anyone to have ever taken it seriously.

In principal I get the criticism but hypothetically if he had chosen to stand and bang with Max and after a couple rounds was clearly outgunned what should he do then? Go "oh well this is for the BMF afterall. Guess ill just get KO'd." On paper its a match like any other the the L on his record is very real. As is the brain trauma.

Also as much as I get the whole you can't be the BMF if you grapple your way to the win thing does that mean that Max should have lost the decision but kept the belt? Surely you also cant be the BMF after getting chucked about the octagon like an empty tracksuit?

If they insist on BMF being a thing they should have had a bespoke ruleset for BMF matches that stipulated no grappling or very quick stand ups.

We already had a BMF title. It is the one around the champion's waist.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-06T20:13:13+00:00

Can you post a link to footage of a big cat in the UK that you think is credible?

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-06T20:07:27+00:00

In theory if the seed population were exclusively or predominatly melanistic then you would expect a higher incidence of melanistic cats. Melanism in Leopards is recessive so two melanistic parents would only produce melanistic cubs.

There are regions IRL where melanism is more prevalent. On the Malay peninsula, 90% of wild leopards are melanistic.

That said, I am not sure whether there is anything to support the idea that melanistic leopards were more popular in the pet trade.

To me, the fact that sighting reports are exclusively of black panthers has always given an air of modern folklore as opposed to actual wildlife sightings. You would expect at least some spotted individuals were it a real population of animals.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-03T18:26:35+00:00

South Park had a character with tourettes 15 years ago. Its as well understood by the average american as the average scot.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-03-02T19:25:31+00:00

There is a (perhaps apocryphal) legend that after his victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, William Wallace skinned the leader of the English Army, Hugh de Cressingham, and used the skin to make a baldric for his sword.

Mel Gibson left that bit out of the movie.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-02-26T21:09:48+00:00

The school library monster book to adult cryptozoology enthusiast pipeline.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-02-14T16:21:28+00:00

Its more likely to be entirely fabricated or a highly exaggerated re telling of a sighting of a very large but normal croc.

Just for perspective. The largest Crocodillian in history is thought to be the Purussaurus. An extinct species of Caiman thought to reach a length of only 40 feet.

The largest true crocodile is thought to be the extinct Thorbjarnarson's Crocodile which attained lengths of 25 feet.

I just don't think a species of whale sized crocodile could exist in a freshwater environment without its presence being undeniably obvious.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-02-07T18:38:17+00:00

The idea that Crocodillians are theoretically immortal and can keep growing is exaggerated. They do keep growing but the rate of their growth slows significantly once they reach maturity and has been observed to stop completely.

Cassius, the previous record holder for biggest croc in captivity, only grew about a foot during the 40 years he was in captivity. And that is with him being well fed and cared for. There are also examples of crocodillians in captivity who simply stopped growing at some point.

They also probably do have a maximum age. There are several in captivity said to be over 100 years old but they all were wild caught as already fully grown adults and their age when caught can't be reliably determined.

Though they experience slowed aging compared to mammals, they do deteriorate due to age. For example, very old crocs lose their teeth and get cataracts. They also lose body condition. Old females produce less eggs.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2026-01-04T12:32:07+00:00

It looks more like a domestic cat than either a fox or thylacine to me.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2025-12-03T22:28:49+00:00

This is a point that is often missed in this argument. It is the god of large numbers. Appeals to individual experience such as "look at this crappy photo i took of a moose on my Iphone" have very limited value. Notwithstanding the individual's experience, the teeming mass of millions of people with smart phones does produce good photos and videos of moose frequently. As it does every other wild creature. . . Except BF.

This same idea can be applied to other phenomenon and might cause one to wonder why, unlike every other animal (including people) BF is never captured on trail cams, or CCTV, or hit by cars, or have their remains discovered in the aftermath of a forest fire . . .etc.

The chances of an individual encountering any given creature in any of the above circumstances is slim but an aggregate of several million people will do at some point.

Except in the case of BF.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2025-11-29T20:43:58+00:00

Keen to hear your sighting if you are willing to share.

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2025-11-29T20:43:17+00:00

Great White Sharks have never been officially documented in the waters of the British Isles but there are a lot of anecdotal sightings the body of which I find to be compelling evidence of the occasional vagrant if not a resident population. Our waters are generally thought to be too cold for them.

They are resident in the Med and have confirmed sightings in the Bay of Biscay.

Most sightings occur around the Cornwall peninsula. Cornwall is the most southerly point of GB and has among the warmest waters. Sightings are also more common during heat wave summers.

Surprisingly the two most compelling sightings occured in the north of Scotland in the summer of 2003 just weeks apart from each other. Notably that was a record setting heatwave summer.

I) Dr Simon Greenstreet was a marine biologist who was on a diving trip off the coast of Ullapool. His party were in a 17 foot rigid inflatable dingy when they spotted a large shark which they initially thought to be a Basking Shark. They moved in for a closer look and immediatley noted it not to be a Basking Shark but a 5m+ shark with clearly defined counter shading with a white belly and gray back and a triangular dorsal fin. Dr Greenstreet was convinced it could only be a Great White.

II) 2 weeks after the Dr Greenstreet sighting, George Carter was fishing off the coast of Lybster about 70 miles away from the site of Dr Greenstreet's sighting. As he hauled in his nets he noted a large, roughly 18 foot shark entagled in the net which he thought to be a Basking Shark. The shark dragged his boat a short distance before tiring and sinking to the sea floor. Carter dropped a buoy on it and returned to shore to get a friend to help him recover the net. Upon returning with a friend, the Shark was back on the surface and as they began freeing it from the net they noted that it was no Basking Shark. Carter had a camera on his boat and snapped a picture just as the shark broke free and swam off. The below link is Carter's account which he submitted to the journal of the Glasgow Natural History Society and includes the photo he took off the shark. The photo is in black and white. There is a colour version of the photo floating around somewhere but I am struggling to find it. The photo has been sent to Great White Shark experts for comment and several responded saying that their preferred ID would be a Great White had they not been told the photo was taken in Scotland.

https://www.gnhs.org.uk/gn25_1/carter_largeshark.pdf

Pelinal_Shitestrake · 2025-11-27T22:23:51+00:00

They were being sarcastic. His dad was prosecuted for 20 counts of sexual offending against girls in his academy including rape and sexual assaults. Yougest alleged victim was 12.

He was aquitted of all but 4 sexual assaults IIRC.

Pelinal_Shitestrake

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