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New paper on alien big cats

geni

Anti-homeopathy illuminati member
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Oct 14, 2003
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Ran across a new paper on alien big cats in britian:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2013.785541#.UYAPCT68PRY

Full paper available for free at that link. It mostly focuses on a Canadian lynx dating from around 1903 found in the collection of the Bristol Museum however it does do a slightly wider review of the situation. Probably the most interesting conclusion is that the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 didn't have much of an effect and there has been a slow series of escapes/releases both before and after that date.
 
Yeah, that's not the sense of "alien" I'm used to seeing on the GS&TP forum. I didn't click through on the article--is there a reason this is posted over here instead of the science forum? Is there something paranormal being alleged? Or something we're supposed to aim a healthy dose of skepticism at? (I'm not particularly familiar with British law or British wildlife, though I do have the vague impression that big cats are a lot more rare over there than on this side of the pond.)
 
There are groups in the UK dedicated to proving that there are wild populations of big cats surviving in the UK - they often cite the 1976 act, claiming enough animals were released (I think) the form breeding populations. They rely heavily on dodgy sightings and photographs of animals they claim are big cats, but usually turn out to be nothing of the sort - and killing of livestock. There's a long thread on the subject somewhere around here.

http://www.bigcatmonitors.co.uk/
 
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Yeah, that's not the sense of "alien" I'm used to seeing on the GS&TP forum. I didn't click through on the article--is there a reason this is posted over here instead of the science forum? Is there something paranormal being alleged? Or something we're supposed to aim a healthy dose of skepticism at? (I'm not particularly familiar with British law or British wildlife, though I do have the vague impression that big cats are a lot more rare over there than on this side of the pond.)

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_big_cats

Basically claims of Big cats been seen in the British countryside are fairly common but the data suggests that the few escapees that turn up don't last in the wild very long and don't form breeding populations.
 

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