New big cat sightings suggest the animals could be breeding, according to enthusiasts, after the legendary Beast of Bodmin was spotted 45 miles from the moor.
The animal was spotted by a teenager in the south west – 45 miles from the moor were the big cat is said to prowl.
Amateur photographer Henry Warren, 19, was taking pictures in fields near his home in Gwinear, west Cornwall, when a huge cat like creature leapt out in front of him.
The student managed to rattle off several frames before the animal disappeared into undergrowth and has since reported the incident to the Plymouth-based British Big Cat Society.
Britain's most famous big cat was first spotted in 1983 and there have been over 60 recorded sightings since.
It was declared a phantom in 1995 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food but Henry thinks they're wrong.
He said: "I was taking pictures of our new house when I saw something run across the field and in front of my lens.
"It was absolutely massive and was hoping up and down like a large cat. There's no way it could have been fox, a dog or anything else like that.
"It ran around 60 metres in just a few seconds and was leaping in the air with its front two legs first.
"I did some research after and thought it may be linked to the Beast of Bodmin - it certainly looks like a big cat." - Torquay Herald Express
Let's go back and look at the more recent history of the so-called 'Beast of Bodmin' and other big cat sightings in the UK:
Official British Dossier On Big Cat Sightings Revealed
3/6/2010 - They are the stuff of rural legend – but for decades, alleged sightings of big cats stalking the British countryside have been dismissed as hoax or fantasy.
Yet now the head of a Government agency responsible for investigating such incidents has declared that he believes these mysterious creatures do indeed exist.
His comments follow the release of a dossier by Natural England which lists more than 100 sightings of exotic, non-native and unidentified animals in England since 2005.
Of these, 38 were "big cats". In some cases, members of the public claimed to have seen the creature itself; on other occasions, they reported finding farm or wild animals which had been attacked or killed.
The documents – Britain's "big cats X Files" – show the extent to which Natural England takes the reports seriously.
The agency has launched several investigations, involving site visits by officials and the drafting in of specialist vets to examine injuries.
Big cat sightings have been reported all over England. In some areas they have spawned legends, such as the so-called Beast of Bodmin in the south west.
The investigations have yet to find conclusive proof of the presence of the mysterious creatures but, asked about their existence, Charlie Wilson, who coordinates reports for the Government agency, said: "The evidence is there that there are the odd, escaped, released dumped animals occurring in the wild every now and then. Read more at Telegraph
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British Government Declares 'No Big Cats' Roaming Countryside
4/7/2010 - Big cats like the Beast of Bodmin are NOT prowling Britain's countryside, it was officially declared yesterday.
A ten-year probe funded by taxpayers into sightings up and down the land astonishingly concluded the creatures simply do not exist.
Experts at Natural England - the Government's environmental watchdog - were unable to explain why people in EVERY county from Cornwall to Caithnesss claim to have seen them in the wild.
But after following up hundreds of reports - including "paw prints" - not a whisker of concrete evidence was found.
Investigators decreed: "None of the sightings of the big cats has ever been confirmed."
The furtive felines had been thought by some experts to be descended from cougars and pumas that fled captivity.
Natural England said: "From time to time big cats do escape from zoos and other collections and are usually recaptured very quickly. We are confident there are no breeding populations of big cats in this country.
"It is very unlikely that there are any big cats at large."
That includes the mysterious beast feared to stalk Cornwall's Bodmin Moor preying on sheep.
A wallaroo - a kind of kangaroo - was among sightings of other exotic species scoffed at by the investigators.
Last night expert Trevor Beer, of Barnstaple, Devon, insisted: "The big cats ARE out there. Natural England are just making fools of themselves." - The Sun
NOTE: So, there are NO big cats roaming the British countryside? Was this 2010 report released to calm fears? Lon
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MoD 'hid big cat sightings' in UK
12/29/2011 - Defence chiefs are trying to cover up the existence of big cats stalking Britain's countryside, a new book claims.
The body of a fearsome puma-like animal is said to be hidden in a top security vault at an RAF base.
Hundreds of big cat sightings have been recorded over the years — from the Beast of Bodmin in Cornwall to the Surrey Puma. The Government's environment department Defra insists evidence is "unsubstantiated".
But Rick Minter, author of Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators, claims staff at RAF Fylingdales, North Yorks, saw the body of the "puma".
He likens it to the US government's alleged cover-up of an alien in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. He writes: "It is at RAF Fylingdales that we have Britain's Roswell moment on big cats.
"Retired staff apparently talked about a 'body on the table' and a witness outside the base reported a puma-like creature being trundled off in the scoop-arm of a tractor."
In June 2004, a local paper reported that a large cat "the length of a sheep" was killed on the Pickering to Whitby road near RAF Fylingdales.
Mark Fraser, of Big Cats in Britain, which investigates sightings, said: "What is the cover-up here? The Holy Grail in these investigations is a body. If the MoD have a body, we'd like to know about it."
A series of photos taken in Cornwall claim to show the Beast of Bodmin. In 1983, the Beast of Exmoor was blamed for the deaths of 100 sheep near South Molton. - The Sun
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Question the obvious...are there 'big cats' roaming Britain?
2/6/2012 - This is the biggest question posed by many people who have an interest in the subject of 'British big cats', and it is a subject often scoffed at by sceptics. Hopefully, this blog will answer a few of the questions posed by sceptics and also those with a genuine interest in what has become known as the British 'big cat' phenomenon. As a full-time researcher into the subject I've collected reports from the south-east of England since the age of nine! after hearing about a sighting in the area of Blue Bell Hill. Almost three decades later I'm still collecting evidence and believe that without a shadow of a doubt there are large, exotic cats roaming Britain. It's only natural there are a lot of sceptics to this subject, after all, a majority of 'big cat' stories in the press are often inaccurate or simply a beastly Halloween headline, but again, I'm hoping this blog will convince some sceptics that these stories are not born from myth or overactive imagination and that I am not insane in my quest!
I'm looking forward to any constructive comments and thought-provoking questions and will be covering a wide range of subjects to hopefully explain the why, what, where and when of the saga, a saga which in fact has been going on a lot longer than many people would have you believe. Although I've always enjoyed studying folklore, my research into exotic cats is very much something I like to keep separate. I decided to take it upon myself to study the sightings and evidence because the so-called 'mystery' of such cats has, mainly since the 1960s, been relegated to folklore. The reality is, there is no mystery as to why there are large cats roaming the wilds of Britain, and hopefully I'll explain why in this blog. I have conducted lectures, organised field trips, written articles and books, and liaised with zoologists, police, scientists, in the hope of simply making the public aware that large cats do roam the UK. Most counties seem to have a 'big cat' in their midst, and this is true, and certainly not folklore. Over the last few weeks there have been numerous stories in some of the major tabloids regarding potential evidence to support the theory that 'big cats' roam the woods, but as you'll find when reading this blog, the evidence has always been there, and is in fact quite easy to find if you know what you're looking for.
Kent - the 'garden of England' is still a heavily wooded, and in some places, dense forest county. Our wilds can provide ample enough shelter for an animal that does not want to be seen - and yet, despite the scepticism, sightings persist - and have for decades since the Surrey 'puma' legend hit the county of Surrey during the 1960s. From then on there have been beastly legends, from the Exmoor and Bodmin tales of the West Country, to the forests of the Scottish Higlands, the valleys of Wales and the remote moors of Yorkshire. Is every eye witness mistaken ? Can every so-called 'big cat' sighting be explained by species native to the UK, such as foxes?
I am open to any suggestions or views regarding what some evidence could be, but hopefully you will find that the evidence presented on here suggests that exotic cats ARE roaming the south-east of England. - Kent Online
Beast of Bodmin Moor (Cornish and English Edition)
Big Cats: Facing Britain's Wild Predators
Big Cats Loose in Britain
Monster Files: A Look Inside Government Secrets and Classified Documents on Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals
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