NEWSLINK: Chance to handfeed snow leopard cubs at The Big Cat Sanctuary

The Big Cat Sanctuary, one of Princess Eugenie's patronages, has launched the cutest of lotteries we ever did see – offering you the chance to hand-feed their snow leopard cubs.

The sanctuary, in Smarden, Kent, is offering this once-in-a-lifetime prize to two winners, who will be the first-ever people to hand-feed Koshi and Khumbu, their adorable and "mischievous" cubs.

Entry costs £5, with proceeds going towards the care of the cubs at the Sanctuary and saving this iconic species by donating 10% to the Sanctuary's conservation partners, the Snow Leopard Trust. The lottery will be drawn on 13th September at 4pm, to coincide with the Sanctuary's 20th-anniversary celebrations.

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NEWSLINK: Big Cat Seen In Posh Chandigarh Locality, Residents Told To Stay Indoors

A leopard-like animal was spotted in Chandigarh's Sector 5 residential area on Monday morning, following which police made announcements in the area asking people to stay indoors.


Even though the police said the animal was a leopard, wildlife activists are not sure about the claim.


"After the leopard was spotted, we made announcements asking people to stay indoors," Station House Officer (SHO), Sector 3 Police Station, Inspector Jaspal Singh said.


However, wildlife activists said they were not sure that the animal was a leopard, adding that efforts were on to catch it.


SHO Singh said the animal has entered a house in Sector 5.

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VIDEO: Frightened leopard cub fleeing raging wildfires in Russia

The little three-month-old cub runs from the approaching smoke and flames on the edge of the Land of the Leopard National Park in Primorsky region.

The animal fortunately successfully fled the flames with its mother who was not caught on camera.

Rangers verified the pair are now safe.

This footage is unique and it highlights the acute danger to wildlife from seasonal fires - in this case manmade - even in a park set up to provide a safe haven for the Amur leopards, which are recovering from getting as close to extinction as any species can.
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NEWSLINK: Lions once again thrive at Kenyan conservation park that was targeted by poachers

Lions are again thriving in a nature reserve where one of the most beloved wildlife movies of all time was filmed, thanks to a collaborative effort to stem poaching.

Meru Conservation Area in Kenya was the setting for Born Free during the 1960s - and is now home to many species, including lions, thanks to conservation efforts by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Born Free Foundation.

The 300-square-mile park was plagued by poachers during the 1980s, who killed much of the reserve's wildlife in the north of Mount Kenya.


But a monitoring programme run since 2014 has seen Meru Conservation Area restocked with a variety of animals, including some 80 lions, along with new litters of cubs.

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PHOTOS: Rare black leopard caught on camera

The footage was captured by a member of the public on their way to work on 24 February in the Gauteng Province and was shared with the Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation.

The foundation posted the video on its Facebook page and explained just how elusive the species tends to be.

It said: "It's the stuff that urban legends and folklore get built around. A phantom, an illusion, a shadow so rare that most people believe they don't actually exist.

"Fewer than 35 sightings of wild black leopards have ever been scientifically documented in South Africa in over half a century; and clear pictures or video evidence are virtually non-existent - most people having spotted these elusive phantoms crossing a road or disappearing into the bush without the chance to take a picture."

The leopard - which is also referred to as a black panther - derives its dark coat from melanism, the opposite of albinism. While albinism causes whiteness due to a lack of pigmentation, the genetic variation melanism results in an excess of dark pigmentation.

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FUNNY: ' Lion' wandering in Spanish town turns out to be dog with unusual haircut

Authorities in the Spanish area of Molina de Segura received many reports of lion sightings last weekend.

Police searched the area and were unable to locate a big cat, although they did turn up another lead.

It turns out the lion was actually a large dog, with a rather unique haircut.

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SIGHTING? UK: Beast of Burford' feared dead after A34 sighting

There are fears the fabled 'Beast of Burford' may be no more after a driver saw a 'puma-sized cat' dead on the side of the A34.

Olli Astley got in touch with the Oxford Mail to say on Thursday at around 4.30pm he was heading southbound on the A34, near Kidlington, when he spotted the creature on the central reservation.

He described it as a 'puma/lynx-sized cat' which was 'black or dark brown'.

Mr Astley, who was with his 16-year-old daughter, added: "We haven't contacted the council but it had been removed overnight and by 8.15am this morning (Friday) as we went to take a picture.


He said he was 'sure' the animal was a cat due to its features but was far bigger than a normal pet feline.

The 47-year-old's description of the big cat is the latest in a long line of people going back to the 1990s to see what they swear is a big cat in west and north Oxfordshire.

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NEWSLINK: Woman keeps nine-month-old puma as a pet

Dogs may be man's best friend, but this brave pet owner has chosen to adopt a dangerous predator as her new companion.

Natalia Korotova, 33, from Perm Krai in Russia, is the proud owner of London, a nine-month-old puma.

Footage captured by Natalia shows the big cat behaving almost like a dog around the house and in the car.


Despite being not much old than a kitten, London is already incredibly large and a big presence in her home - though it was scared of her tiny Pomeranian when it first moved in.

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VIDEO: Colorado deputy escapes jaws of mountain lion

A witness captured the terrifying moment when a deputy escaped the jaws of a mountain lion in Colorado.

When a group of officers arrived at a neighborhood in Loveland, Colorado -- after a call of a mountain lion attack -- they tried to contain the big cat.

But instead, it attacked a deputy and took her to the ground on Wednesday.

That's when one of the officers kicked the wild animal off her, while the other officers shot at it and scared it away. Then, deputies followed the animal to a nearby home where a Colorado Parks & Wildlife game warden shot and killed the mountain lion, a Larimer County Sheriff's Office news release said.

If you feel like you've been hearing a lot about mountain lion attacks in Colorado recently, that's because there's been more than usual.

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SIGHTINGS: Somerset big cat sightings

More sightings of big cats are reportedly being seen in Somerset after one woman claimed she saw one "as large as an Alsatian" run through her garden.
Somerset Live recently spoke to Mrs Bond, who lives in a housing estate on the outskirts of Paulton, after she discovered a black animal enter and walk through her back garden on Saturday, February 15.

Mrs Bond, who didn't want to give her first name, described the animal as "powerful-looking with long legs", had "short black hair" and was "at least big as a large Alsatian".

Alarmed but intrigued by what she saw, she told her son, Derek Bond, who is now helping her investigate what they claim is a possible big cat sighting.

Since we published the previous article, a number of readers have suggested what Mrs Bond saw may not have been a big cat, but instead a domestic cat.

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VIDEO: Leopard attacking a crowd

Though videos of animals are much liked on social media, while them attacking humans have always giving goosebumps. This time the video which is surfacing on the Internet will shake you up. In the viral video, a leopard can be seen jumping in the air while it attacked two people. Sushanta Nanda, an officer of the Indian Forest Service, shared this video on Twitter.
The horrifying video which was uploaded on March 19, is sure to take you to the edge of your seat. In the video, a leopard can be seen suddenly jumping out from a pit. After coming out, it starts chasing people in the crowd who stood there shocked and surrounding the pit. As soon as it was out, it pounced on a person from behind and tried to suppress it. The big cat then leaves that person and turns around to pounce on two other people. Susanta also expressed his displeasure on Twitter and wrote, "A horrendous rescue. Crowd control is half the problem in man-animal conflicts like this. They had no business to be there.” He also goes on to describe that the leopard acted purely out of natural instinct and was not at fault.

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ARTICLE: The True Story of Madagascar's 'Forest Cat'

On the island of Madagascar, evolution has worked overtime assembling a menagerie like no other on Earth. That makes any interloper’s history all the more germane.

Take the resident non-native “forest cat,” for example—an animal whose origins have been the subject of much debate. Many scientists have long thought the feline’s ancestors were small wildcats that somehow reached Madagascar from mainland Africa. Others posited that Felis catus, the domestic cat, was also part of the gene pool (though historical and ethnographic data suggest that domestic cats didn’t arrive here until the 1800s—with a U.K. ambassador—after the forest cat was already established on the island nation).

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SIGHTING, UK: Woman claims she saw a big black cat in Gloucestershire

A Newent commuter on her way to work early one morning couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw a big black cat in the road outside where she lives.
Beverly Burford, 60, was turning out of her drive in her car on to Cleeve Mill Road at 6.15am when she saw the beast.

She said: “It was crossing the road. I did not see the head as it was by the hedge. I did see it’s back, shoulders and body and tail.


“I would say that it was the size of a German Shepherd dog.

“I was in disbelief but as I started driving I knew what I had seen."

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VIDEO: Leopard rescued from a well in Madhya Pradesh

MP's forest department is winning hearts for its practical and timely rescue of a leopard that had fallen into a well in Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh.

A one-minute-long video posted this morning by an Indian Forest Service Parveen Kaswan, Indian Forest Services officer, shows the rescue operation where the big cat is being lifted out of the well with the help of ropes attached to a makeshift platform at both ends. The rescuers used a traditional bed made of wood and ropes called 'khatiya' to lift up the big cat from the well. The leopard is seen sitting on the 'khatiya' while the rescuers lift up the bed from the well from the Pahari range in Shivpuri. 

And by the looks of it, the leopard was more than happy to 'co-operate'.
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NEWSLINK: Colorado deputy escapes mountain lion attack; big cat shot and killed

A mountain lion was fatally shot after attacking a civilian and a deputy at an RV park in Colorado on Wednesday.


The big cat was captured on video nearly sinking its jaws into the neck of the deputy in Larimer County before members of law enforcement converged and the animal was kicked off.

Witness Gregory Scot Paul was able to capture the encounter from inside a trailer after the big cat jumped on the deputy.


“My heart goes out to her,” Paul told the Loveland Reporter-Herald. “If she hadn’t put her arm up, it would probably would have gotten to her neck.”


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CARL WRITES: Paulton, Somerset - 15/2/20

Read the original story here.

Given that this sighting occurred in a residential area we should probably be cautious, however, like Danny Bamping quite rightly pointed out, it’s still possible that this could have been a big cat as previous reports have been filed from this area, and some of them quite good.

Paulton is large village with a population 5,302, located north of the Mendip Hills, North-East Somerset. Mrs Bond’s sighting was made on the outskirts of the village - basically it’s a rural area; the kind a large predator could quickly disappear from back into wilderness.

I can quite understand Mrs Bond falling over backwards as she was completely taken aback by what she believed was a big black cat – an encounter which would, accurate of not, shock anyone!

The statement that Mrs Bond could hear “thumping sounds” on the pavement while the animal was retreating her garden is curious, though maybe she meant she could hear light padding sounds, which would be expected of both leopards and pumas moving short distances on concrete paving slabs. Even though species such as these are reasonably large, they are extremely stealthy animals in their movements and in fact make very little sound. I can imagine it making more noise scrambling over a wooden fence to escape, than running along the ground.  

The fact that the sighting happened during the day is also suspicious, but not impossible, given the rural location, which would in fact be rather choice for a large felid who’s had an unsuccessful nights hunting. Fortunately though, there is a faecal sample available for analysis. So hopefully positive results might come from this (though, I would of expected a strong ammonia smell to have been mentioned in the article), but if not, and the sample is eventually proven to come from a fox or something else, it wouldn’t disprove Mrs Bond’s sighting, it would just show that the sample didn’t come from the kind of animal Mrs Bond believes she observed, and could have nothing to do with her alleged encounter at all.

At the moment, who knows! Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t! More data required..

NEWSLINK: Howletts Wild Animal Park bids heartbreaking farewell to much-loved Bengal tiger Delhi

Howletts Wild Animal Park has announced its 'beloved' male Bengal tiger, Delhi, has passed away at the age of 21.

Keepers, near Littlebourne, described the big cat as a 'chilled out old boy' after making the heartbreaking decision to euthanise him on February 28.

While the typical lifespan of a wild tiger is around eight to ten years, this can increase to 15 and beyond with good diet, veterinary care and regular exercise in captivity.

Delhi had been showing signs of mobility issues and began losing weight, despite continued efforts from the dedicated keepers.

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PHOTOS: Cat makes herself at home in the lynx’s enclosure

Stray cats look for food and shelter wherever they can. But this kitty found it in the most unexpected of places...and what's more, she made it her forever home!

One night, an unexpected visitor made an appearance at the St. Petersburg Zoo. On the lookout for scraps of food, the little stray cat noticed there was still some meat left in the lynx’s bowl. So, she snuck into the enclosure and went to help herself.

Our natural reaction would be to think that the cat then becomes – ironically – dead meat. But nothing of the sort! Not only did the lynx not chase the cat away, but she even shared her meal with her new acquaintance.


So naturally, the cat came back, time and time again, for a meal. And time and time again, Linda the lynx happily shared. The two quickly developed a special bond, and soon, they were inseparable.

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RARE SIGHTING: Threatened rusty-spotted cat seen after 10 years in Uttar Pradesh

Even as a tiger census is presently underway, two rare wildlife species - a rusty spotted cat and a coral red kukri snake- were spotted by H Rajamohan, director of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, during a stroll in the forest.

The rusty-spotted cat, known to be the smallest member of the cat family, was spotted in Mala range while the coral red kukri snake was sighted in the Haripur range. The first picture of the cat was captured 10 years ago by camera traps installed in the PTR for the tiger census, but the feline was not seen since then.

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NEWSLINK: Tiger Mauls Man To Death After He Jumps Into Its Enclosure

A tigress mauled a man to death after he jumped into its enclosure at a biological park in the Indian city of Ranchi on Wednesday.

According to local reports, the man, identified as 27-year-old Wasim Ansari, leaped into the enclosure and tried to catch the attention of the big cat by folding his hands and bowing down in front of it. Moments after, the tigress leaped at him before grabbing him by his neck. The man succumbed to injuries on the spot.


The staff then pelted stones at the nine-year-old tigress and when she retreated, they removed the body from the enclosure.

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NEWSLINK: Creatures that you wouldn't expect to find in Scotland

The debate of big cats in Scotland has been going on for years; a hill walker’s claims or blurry photographs have done little to persuade many people. However, PC Chris Swallow, who was based at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, managed to capture some footage of a large cat-like animal in 2009, just one of many possible big cat sightings across Scotland.

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NEWSLINK: This Big Cat Covered 2,000 Km For A Mate, Netizens Impressed

Amid all the corona fear and stories of bloodshed and politics there appeared a hero who burnt bright and impressed netizens this week -- it was a tiger who travelled 2,000 km seeking his sweetheart.


A picture of the tiger along with a map tracking its movement went viral on social media with Twitterati super impressed.


"He walked for 2,000 km through canals, fields, forests, roads & no conflict recorded. Resting in the daytime & walking at night all for finding a suitable partner. Was being continuously monitored," IFS officer Parveen Kaswan posted the heart-warming photo.


He captioned it: "This #Tiger from India after walking into records has settled to Dnyanganga forest." The sanctuary is situated in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra and is part of the Melghat Tiger Reserve.


As the post went viral, Twitterati have flooded the social media with their reactions.
A user wrote, "What a lucky tigress it would be...He walked 2000 kms & settled for nothing less meanwhile. These humans exaggerate their struggle in love."

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NEWSLINK: Dartmoor Zoo hits out at 'escaped tiger' hoax

Dartmoor Zoo has responded after a series of hoaxes wrongly suggested that an animal had escaped.


Fictitious reports on social media a few weeks ago suggested an animal at the zoo near Sparkwell was on the loose.

The zoo was quick to deny these rumours only for hoaxers to contact Plymouth Live earlier today claiming a 'tiger had escaped'.

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SIGHTINGS, UK: Sightings of big cats in Norfolk have tailed off, new figures reveal

Sightings of elusive big cats, which scores of people have claimed to have spotted prowling through parts of Norfolk, tailed off in recent years, new figures have revealed.

For years, there have been rumours of creatures roaming the countryside, but a marked lack of evidence to prove it.


A Freedom Of Information Act request has revealed that Norfolk Constabulary has received 96 reports of big cat sightings over the past decade.


However, while the peak year for such sightings was 2013, when there were 19 reports, just one person called police last year to report that they had seen a big cat.
The FOI request, which was submitted to the police by a member of the public, asked the police for all reported big cat sightings since 2010.


The force carried out a check of all incidents which had been recorded over that period which included the keywords big cat, large cat, puma, panther, cougar, jaguar and lynx.


The bulk of the sightings happened in the first half of the decade, with 74 between 2010 and 2014. From 2015 until 2019 there were 22 - just four of which were in the past two years.

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ALABAMA: Puma sighting?

Is this spooky photo proof a mountain lion in Alabama? State experts are weighing in Biloxi Sun Herald However, some hunters, hikers and conspiracy theorists maintain the large cats have moved undetected back across the Southeast and are experts at ...

INDIAN LEOPARD ALERT

Shoot-at-sight order soon for leopard that killed girl Bangalore Mirror A localite Chandrahas Nayak who spotted it tried to help along with his friends when the big cat attacked him before fleeing into the nearby forest. Toddler Mauled To Death By Leopard While Playing Outside Home, Shoot-At-Sight Order Issued ... - International Business Times Full Coverage

FUNNY: Driver Spots an ‘Injured Leopard’ on the Road, but It Turns Out to Be Just a Coat

Humans have introduced animals from many areas in the world into ecosystems where they do not belong—think of the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco as an example. For Ben Lilly, of Halifax in the north of England, to spot what seemed to be a leopard body in the middle of a road was certainly an unusual sight.

“I saw something in the distance as I was coming round the bend and slowed down, giving it a wide berth in case it was an injured animal,” Lilly said, per the Daily Mail,
When he got closer, the driver was sure he saw the spotted fur of a big cat. “I got out cautiously, because I didn’t want something taking my face off,” Lilly said, “but as soon as I looked at it from the other angle I started laughing.”

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NEWSLINK: Leopard enters school, kills a dog; terrified students hide in their classroom

The city of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh is infamous for its constant human-wildlife conflicts. Just recently, students of a school in the small village of Keeratpur were terrified when they had a face to face encounter with a wild leopard. While none of the students were harmed, the leopard did kill a dog in the area.

The students of the government school in Keeratpur first encountered the leopard when it entered into the school ground through an adjacent field. The leopard then killed a dog and dragged its carcass back to the nearby Barahi forest. The Barahi forest is part of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, which is infamous for its poor borders.

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NEWSLINK: Rescued Amur leopard is sent on 9hr flight to cure back tumour

One of world’s rarest big cats was hit by a car and went through months of treatment at the rescue centre in Russian Far East.

The young male Leo131M aka Elbrus was found by hunting experts in grave condition in March 2019, with many experts believing he had maximum two weeks to live.

The dedicated team of surgeons at the Tiger rescue centre outside Vladivostok did a miracle bringing the big cat to life, and almost completely restoring its health.

Elbrus spent months in a spacious fenced enclosure where he hunted deers and smaller prey like bunnies.

The plan was to re-introduce the rare cat into the wild, as there are only 91 adult Amur leopards living in this part of Russia and every animal counts for the endangered population.

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NEWSLINK: Sick tiger trade exposed as dead cubs found in freezer by BBC crew

Dead tiger cubs were found in a freezer by a BBC film crew investigating big cat trafficking across South East Asia.

Investigator Aldo Kane also finds the animals illegally hidden in high security pens in Thai zoos, a trader openly selling tiger products in Laos with a street value higher than cocaine, and caged cats fattened up in a dark basement in Vietnam to be killed and cooked to order.

The frozen cubs were discovered at a breeding facility in Laos, with Kane opening the chest freezer and saying: “Oh f***. Tiger cubs. Baby bones. There’s three cubs in here.”


Leaving behind camera traps, he succeeded in filming men taking the corpses out for transportation.


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SIGHTING, UK: Woman claims she saw big cat 'as large as an Alsatian' run through her garden

A woman claims she saw a big cat "running through her garden" and is determined to establish exactly what she saw.

The woman, who only wanted to be known as Mrs Bond, who lives in a housing estate on the outskirts of Paulton, discovered a black animal enter and walk through her back garden on Saturday, February 15.

A combination of shock and losing her balance saw her fall over at the sight of the animal and she just looked on as it strolled past her.

Alarmed but intrigued by what she saw, she told her son, Derek Bond, who is now helping her investigate what they claim is a possible big cat sighting.

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CONSERVATION: 2 Cheetah cubs born at Columbus Zoo are first-ever IVF birth for species

History was made at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Wednesday when two cheetah cubs were born using in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer into a surrogate mother, the first-ever birth of this nature for the species.


The cubs’ biological mother is named Kibibi, but after careful planning and innovative medical procedures, a female cheetah named Isabelle gave birth to the two cubs Wednesday night. The father of the cubs is a 3-year-old cheetah named Slash from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.

During in vitro fertilization, or IVF, sperm and eggs are fertilized in a laboratory and incubated to create embryos, which are then implanted into a female’s womb in hopes they develop into fetuses. IVF is popular with humans and other species, but this successful birth via IVF is the first-ever in a cheetah birth.


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CONSERVATION: Tiger coridoors in India

One more tiger has crossed over into Adilabad district from neighbouring Maharashtra on February 25, making it the second big cat to do so within a fortnight.

While the first one which had crossed Penganga river near Tamsi (K) in Bheempur mandal was identified a female from Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) in Pandharkawda Tahsil in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra, the second one is yet to be identified but it could have come either from TWS or from the forest outside the sanctuary.

The tiger was seen by motorists on Bhoraj-Bela road near Awalpur in Jainad mandal at about 11 p.m. By 6 a.m., it reached Mangurla, about 10 km away from where it crossed the road. The tiger on prowl was seen by villagers at this point. It also attacked a bullock but could not kill it.

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PAWPRINTS, UK: Man finds 'Beast of Bodmin' big cat paw prints in Cornwall

A man believes he has discovered paw prints made by the 'Beast of Bodmin'.
Mark Davies spotted the unusual markings on Saturday (February 22) in Madron.

He claimed the prints were made by a non-domestic animal.


Sharing the pictures, Mark said: "Last night I was investigating an abandoned place in Madron near the moor.

"On returning we found prints of non-domestic animals. This paw print shows it is big and heavy and people need to be aware."


He continued: "It was fresh on the wet tractor tracks and looks like it was in a prowling movement.


"Too big for a domestic cat and not the prints of a dog. Neither of which would be on the moorland, 10am in the morning, so far from home.


"I can only assume it is what is called the 'Beast'."

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