Something mysterious appears to be prowling throughout the United Kingdom. While reports of unidentified large cats are nothing new to the British Isles, sightings have been increasing lately. Last summer, several eyewitnesses reported seeing large mystery cats throughout the English countryside around the same time multiple shepherds reported finding members of their flocks horribly mutilated in ways which suggest a large predator. Just last month, Scotland’s legendary Clashindarroch Beast, a large cat cryptid, was believed to have been caught on camera, lending credence to theories that unidentified large felines might be found throughout Great Britain.
Whatever is lurking in the shadows, it appears to be getting more brazen. The Independent is reporting a sighting of a “mysterious creature” some people speculate might be a rogue lion. Check out their coverage for video of the alleged big cat. The sighting came thanks to the home security camera footage of a resident in Oldbury, England just outside of Birmingham – a large, densely populated urban area. Dawn Paige of Oldbury says she was “physically shaking” after watching what appears to be a lioness or similar animal prowling just outside of her house:
I thought it was kids messing around. I had the shock of my life when I saw that thing come into view. I was physically shaking. At first, I thought it must be a big dog, but it moves just like a cat. I took the footage into work and asked some of the teachers what they thought, and they agree with me it looks like a leopard, or a she-lion. I’ve got a little dog and I’m absolutely terrified for her safety.
The animal appears to be around one meter tall and its movements are similar to that of a large feline. Experts from the nearby Dudley Zoo – whose animals are all accounted for – agree that it appears to be a large cat species but were unable to definitively identify it from the footage.
Sightings of anomalous large cats have been reported in the U.K. for decades.
Are all of these recent sightings related? Could some extant large feline species have remained (somewhat) hidden in Great Britain all of this time, or is something else behind all of these unidentified large cat reports and sightings?