CARL WRITES: Greenhithe, Kent - 19/11/19

Dead Foal, Greenhithe, Kent.

(Metro News, 19^th Nov)

There is very little to imply the dead foal discovered in a field in Greenhithe, Kent, last November, was the work of a big cat. Other than the obvious gash on its underside there are no signs of predatory activities.

Big cats do quite often tear at the undersides of large prey, kicking with their rear legs, basically disembowelling it, but there are typically other signs visible such as bite and scratch marks located on the flanks, the haunches, and the underside and sides of the neck. There are no such signs here, unless, of course, the damage is located on the other side, out of view – which is possible I suppose.

However, going by the image alone, there is no clear evidence of feline activity, or of any other predator for that matter. The stomach contents look like they are still predominantly there to me! It’s more plausible that the foal died some natural death and may have been scavenged upon post mortem. The scavenger only ripping into the contents of the stomach.

The gash on the foal looks quite clean, which, if there had been other injuries present, might imply the activities of a big cat species. Be that is it may, there is very little to suggest this – other than the gash itself. It is quite possible that the foal injured itself (maybe trying to jump over something with a sharp edge), wandered a short distance and died where it lay. This might explain the single clean gash observable in the photograph.

If this is the work of an animal, I suspect it’s a scavenging species acting post mortem, likely a canid - although I’m not convinced of this either.

If samples had been taken, tested, which show the presence of Felid DNA, this would constitute evidence, but this is not suggested anywhere in the accompanying article.

Human activity also shouldn’t be ruled out at this point.

While there have been several ‘sightings’ of animals alleged to be pumas and panthers in and around Kent, I highly doubt this poor foal is evidence of such.

Kent has had its fair share of alleged big cat sightings, with four instances last year alone. That being said, this report clearly shows the folly of relying primarily on testimonial evidence and ignoring the practical data in front of our very eyes.

I doubt very much this was the work of a big cat!