There are more tigers living behind bars than in the wild. The figures are staggering: Fewer than 4,000 tigers roam free worldwide while double that number are estimated to be held in breeding facilities across Asia. The vast majority of these captive tigers are in Chinese farms, but the big cat is also being bred in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam — for profit not conservation.
A new report from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, has found that over the past two decades more than half of the tigers seized in Thailand and a third of those in Vietnam came from captive breeding facilities. The analysis has renewed longstanding worries that “farming tigers leads to illegal trade in tiger parts and stimulates demand,” Dr. Richard Thomas, TRAFFIC’s global communications coordinator, told The Diplomat by email.
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Police responding to a cougar sighting near a Metro Vancouver elementary school were in for a surprise when they found the big cat was smaller than expected — much smaller.
In fact, the supposed 150-pound cougar turned out to be a “large domestic cat.”
A woman who lived in the South Surrey neighbourhood emailed Peace Arch News early Tuesday to report that a cat “maybe 150lbs” had walked down the road in front of her neighbours’ house Monday. The sighting was near Semiahmoo Trail Elementary School.
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Roaming the grass along Rudgear Road in Walnut Creek near Cardigan Court Wednesday was a big cat, shocking a woman on her morning walk.
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Multiple people called 911 Wednesday night, reporting a mountain lion sighting.
Animal Control officers and a Fish and Wildlife warden went on the prowl, looking for something not normally seen in the south Sacramento neighborhood.
Tammy says she called police after seeing what looked like a mountain lion up on the fence.
“I wasn’t about to get out, so I just dialed 911 and told them I saw a big cat, mountain lion or cougar or something,” Tammy said.
She said she’s certain this was not a pet house cat.
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Hours after a 65-year-old woman was mauled by a leopard at Marauri village under Neuria police station, 2 km from Mala forest range of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Saturday evening, another woman of the same village was attacked by a big cat in the early hours of Sunday when she went outside her house.
However, divisional forest officer, forest and wildlife division, Sanjeev Kumar, however, claimed that he could not find any pugmarks of a leopard during spot inspection. It has not rained in the area for the past three or four days.
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A 'big cat' has been filmed prowling around gravestones of a rural village churchyard in Worcester.
A mum and son were out enjoying an evening stroll at the ancient church when they saw the large beast skulking around St Peter's Church, in Powick.
Locals have now branded the beast the 'Powick Puma' and follows a spate of similar sightings in recent months.
Footage shows the animal, which resembles a puma or large wildcat, walking through the grounds and sloping behind head stones.
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A photographer who spotted a 'big cat' prowling through the Yorkshire countryside has said he's 'never seen anything like it' - claiming it was the size of a dog.
John Pearson, 46, was taking pictures at St Aidan's Nature Reserve near Leeds when the mysterious creature caught his eye at around 5am on August 17.
He claims it was so large he was able to spot it at a distance of around 650 feet, and immediately rejected suggestions it was a household cat.
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