Big Cats on the Loose
SIGHTINGS of big cats in Oxfordshire have boosted the number of wild and exotic animals reported in the UK to more than 10,000 since 2000.
A new study appears to show there are more wild animals on the loose than ever before, including 5,931 big cats, 332 wild boars, and 3,389 sharks in British waters.
The British Big Cat Society has reported a dramatic increase in big cat sightings in recent years, with 2004-5 figures already up 3.5 per cent on the previous year's study. Hundreds of wild and exotic creatures, usually found in the zoo or the jungle, are sighted every week up and down the country, it found.
Last November, Michael Lloyd of Kidlington, believed he spotted a black cat between Yarnton and the Hanboroughs while out on his quad bike.
His sighting followed a series of big cat encounters in Oxfordshire.
In September 2005, businessman George Gasiorowski spotted a black cat in the same area as Mr Lloyd.
In March 2005, the Cotswold Wildlife Park offered a £5,000 reward for the capture of the cat, dubbed the 'Beast of Burford. This followed a photo by Phil Batts, of Thorney Leys, Witney, of what he believed could be the Beast of Burford's pawprint, in countryside near the perimeter of RAF Brize Norton.
Chris Mullins, founder and co-ordinator of Beastwatch UK, who compiled the data, said: "We now have many members, as well as people with just an interest, who report and look out for wild animals across the country. Since the start of our organisation, the number of reports has increased at a rapid rate, including monkeys stolen from zoos and private collections to wallabies and wild boar, and more unusual reports, such as a chinchilla found in a post box, to a piranha in the Thames."
There have even been wallabies and kangaroos seen in Oxfordshire.
Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire have a large population of wallabies, with almost 30 sighted in recent years.
In May 2005, motorists claimed to have seen a dead kangaroo on the A34 near Oxford, while in 2003, Harwell scientist Jon Taylor saw a wallaby hopping around in a field near Harwell.
Oxford Mail: 4th October 2006
