Source : Perth Now news
A big cat tracker has explained how huge animals such as panthers can remain out of sight while living in the wild in the UK.
The expert – named only as Chris, 47, from Northampton – is part of a group which looks into potential sightings of big cats on the loose in the British countryside and he’s convinced beasts lurking in the wild are able to stay hidden because they roam across vast areas and mostly move around at night.
He told the Northampton Chronicle and Echo: “There’s no reason why such animals can’t live in this country. I don’t believe there’s that many of them.
“I don’t believe there’s loads of them hanging around. I wouldn’t like to put a number on it, but yeah, I don’t think there’s as many as what people think.
“And I think these animals move around a lot as well. They travel, I think they can travel up to about 50 miles a day. And they probably move around at night.
“They use disused railways, used railways to get around just so we don’t see them. They’ll move around that way, sleep during the day and go hunting at night.”
He went on to admit he’s never seen a big cat in the wild himself, but he strongly believes they are “out there”.
Chris added: “I’ve never seen one personally, but I’ll keep tracking them. It’s a passion of mine. And I do believe they’re out there. And this is what we’re trying to prove.”
He went on to ponder whether big cats could be surviving in the wild in the UK after a series of releases by private owners back in the 1970s which could have established breeding colonies.
Chris told the publication: “Are they still being [released] illegally in this country? Is somebody out there doing it still?
“Or are they still breeding from back in the 1970s when they were released? This is the question is what we’ve got to ask. But this is what we do.
“This is what we’re tracking them for. And we do, we want to protect them as well. We don’t want to hunt them. We want them to thrive here.”
