SIGHTING, UK: Stunned walker spots 'puma' lurking near Derbyshire football pitch

A stunned walker claims he spotted a puma basking in the sunshine near a Derbyshire football pitch. Wildlife fan Ian Harvey says he came face to face with the “frightening big cat” during a morning stroll. He claims the creature was “basking in the sunshine” and lying down "against the hedgerows" close to the pitch. Mr Harvey, 56, was left “in shock” as the cat apparently started skulking towards him, Derbyshire Live reports.

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NEWSLINK: Security guard risks death, rushes to fling a boy away from leopard

A security guard at a construction site at Keshavnagar, Mundhwa, proved to be a braveheart when he flung himself at the jaws of death trying to save a seven-year-old Rahul from a leopard attack. 

Luckily, he managed to dodge death, suffering serious injuries in the process. At 6.40 am, Vikas Bhokare was just 20 minutes away from the end of his shift at the site of Vertical Oriana, when he heard of a leopard on the prowl. “People were shouting about the presence of the cat and I started looking for it but could not sight it,” he told Mirror.

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ARTICLE: Decoding the human-leopard conflict

In Jalandhar last week, a leopard injured four people in a dramatic encounter in a densely populated neighbourhood.

The leopard attack in Pune’s Mundhwa suburb in which at least five people, including three who were trying to capture it, were injured, adds to the list of conflict events involving the big cat that have become increasingly common over the past several years.

Why do leopards enter areas populated by humans? Contrary to popular perception, a leopard that is seen amidst people has not “strayed” from its “natural habitat”. Big cats have a superior awareness of their coordinates and purpose.
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SIGHTING, UK: Big cat seen 'slinking across the road' in sighting hot spot

The first report of a big cat sighting in Gloucestershire has come in for 2019. This time the big cat, which is thought to be a Eurasian lynx, was spotted near the picnic area of Coaley Peak near Stroud. Normally sightings of these big cats happen at dawn or dusk but the most recent one was spotted at around noon on Sunday, December 9. Other sightings of big cats have described the animal as being similar in size to a Labrador, and in this case it is no different.

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SIGHTING, UK: Another witness comes forward to say he has seen the South Derbyshire 'puma'

A Woodville man has revealed he too once saw a "puma" which has been reported to be roaming in South Derbyshire. Earlier this week Burton Live reported Swadlincote man Ian Harvey said he was convinced he had seen the big cat lurking in a park in Albert Village. 

Now another South Derbyshire man has come forward to say he once saw a similar animal five miles away. Jonathan Oakey, from Woodville , said: "I believe I've seen the cat when I was on way to Castle Donington in my car and I'm sure it was this cat.

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NEWSLINK: Runner kills mountain lion after he's attacked - then drives himself to hospital

A man fought off and killed a mountain lion that pounced on him while he was out for a run - before driving himself to hospital. The 80lb beast attacked the man while he was out jogging on Horsetooth Mountain near Fort Collins, Colorado, after its “hunting instinct had been triggered”.
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NEWSLINK: Tiger mauled to death by potential mate at London Zoo

An endangered Sumatran tiger was mauled to death at the London Zoo on Friday just moments after it was introduced to a potential mate for the first time. Melati, a female tiger and long-term resident of the zoo, was introduced to male Asim, who had recently been acquired by the zoo. Zookeepers said they hoped that the pair would breed in the future. The London Zoo acknowledged that while introductions of big cats are always considered "high risk," experts had observed "positive signs" and deemed it to be the "right time" to introduce the pair.

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NEWSLINK: Gujarat only state with all three big cats

On Tuesday morning, the officials who were checking the footage of night vision camera found the evidence of tiger's presence.

With the confirmation regarding the presence of a tiger in Santrampur area, Gujarat has now become the only state having a presence of all three bigs cats-lion, tiger and leopard. The last time a tiger was spotted in the state was in 1992.
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VIDEO: Leopard stalks its prey unaware another killer cat is preparing to attack

This is the moment a leopard stalking its prey in the bushes is caught off guard when a fellow big cat pounces on it from behind. The prowling animal became the prey itself when it strayed into another leopard's territory in footage believed to have been filmed in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. After sneaking up on the distracted leopard, the second animal pounces but is flung to the ground. The attacking leopard then chases its rival through the bushes.
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NEWSLINK: Kirklees Council has issued a licence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act

Back in the 1970s, it was possible to step into an upmarket pet shop and buy a cheetah, attach it to a lead and take it for a walk down the high street. 

These days it’s not as easy to add an exotic animal to the household, but it’s not impossible either. 

In Kirklees, the council has issued just one licence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. And whilst the Asian Leopard Cat that it refers to is not strictly a “big cat”, it’s nonetheless larger than the average domestic moggie.

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CARL WRITES: 18/1/19 - Porthleven, Cornwall

Read the original story here.

I think if this was a genuine big cat attack the encounter would have been far worse for Mr Wild than the near miss he describes. Mathew Wild claims that while visiting his girlfriend in Porthleven, Cornwall, they both witnessed a large panther-like animal trying to get in through an open window, which then surprise attacked Mr Wild when he thought the animal had gone and tried to close the window. 

“It was trying to get through the window. I thought it had gone and went to shut the window and it went to get me... It grabbed my hand through the window. I used to work with animals and this thing was like nothing I’d ever seen. It was worse than anything on telly.” – Mathew Wild. 

Mr Wild’s report clearly states that the animal, whatever it was, actually had hold of him with it’s claws and presumably also with it’s jaws, and that he managed to free his hand from of the creatures grip and safely close the window. If this had been a leopard attack in Africa, does it sound like the kind of encounter that wouldn’t result in severe injuries? I think not! 

“It was very intent on getting in... It was lucky the cat didn’t draw blood.” said Mr. Wild. 

He described the beast as looking like a domestic cat crossed with a panther which is something of a biological impossibility and rather ambiguously concluded that if the animal was standing on the floor, it would have reached about six feet. Mr Wild, a 30 year old martial arts enthusiast from Helston, Cornwall, would possibly be capable of freeing his hand from business end of a leopard; especially if the animal was positioned uncomfortably on a ground floor window sill, but I find it very difficult to believe this could be done without receiving some sort of serious injury. 

I expect this report is either a complete fabrication or it was some other animal misidentified as a big cat – a large aggressive domestic cat (maybe another exotic hybrid) springs to mind.