In this Summer edition we discuss pumas encountered in the wild on the England & Wales border in the Wye Valley, but we also visit a special sanctuary for re-homed exotic pets, also in the Wye Valley area.

Our first guest Grant, explains how he and friends were advanced on by a puma when they were out lamping foxes one night. Grant describes the intense eye shine and what happened as the cat got closer…

Our second guest Lindsay has experience with large cats from South Africa. Now she runs Wildside Exotic Rescue, where pumas, lynx and a serval are amongst the rescued animals cared for. She explains the challenges of looking after the cats and the other animals, and she reflects on the consequences of people owning and needing to give up their exotic pets. The pumas are sometimes fed deer, and will be involved in a special scientific experiment to help big cat studies in Britain…

Visit www.wildsideexoticrescue.co.uk to learn more about Wildside and support the work of Lindsay and the team there.

Words of the week: scientific controls

21 August 2024

Steve our guest trains his working gun dog, a springer spaniel every morning at dawn. We hear of four occasions when he’s encountered a large black cat in his local Cheshire countryside. For one of the sightings the animal had a pronounced limp. On the BCC website (Refs & Links, Ep 113) Steve compares his sighting to the footage of a limping large black cat filmed in Scotland last year.

Steve and Rick also discuss the footage of an alleged large black cat filmed in Steve’s area of Cheshire in January 2024. The footage was shown in the media at the time and is now on the BCC website to view.

Steve also recalls seeing a Scottish wildcat in Scotland and we hear about black panther and lynx reports mentioned on his fishing trips in Scotland.

Word of the week: observant

27 July 2024

Our first guest Richard recounts a sudden episode of big cat reports from his time as a local police officer in Wiltshire. One of the cases involved a threatened domestic cat.

In the second part we catch up with tracker and wildlife guide Mark Graves who was first on ep 95. He explains why some photographed footprints and plaster casts are evidence for big cats in Scotland and in Dorset, and he discusses a call which matches a leopard vocalisation, recorded recently in a Devon woodland.

We also reflect on a recent press report of a camper experiencing a black panther advancing towards him in a Derbyshire campsite. Mark gives feedback after speaking with the witness.

Finally, Mark and Rick consider how distinct the British big cats may be, tuned as they are to the UK environment.

Words of the week: character release

3 July 2024