We would be happy to recieve your
review of the book. Please email here
for inclusion on this page. Please put into
the subject header the title of the book and
the word 'review'.
|
We would be happy to recieve your review of the book. Please email here for inclusion on this page. Please put into the subject header the title of the book and the word 'review'. |
ISBN 1: 872883 92 3.
Dimensions: 275 x 175 mm
Description: llustrated paperback
£16.95
To order go here
In the past twenty years every county in Britain, from Caithness to Cornwall, has had recurrent sightings of 'big cats' – described as being like pumas or panthers. These anomalous big cats sightings are now running at an estimated 1,200 a year.
Farmers, gamekeepers, ornithologists, policemen and even parents on the school run have all been thrilled – or terrified – to see what they assume is a big cat escaped from a zoo. Yet these big cats are neither escapees from zoos nor, as this book conclusively argues, the descendants of pets released into the countryside by their owners in 1976 when the Dangerous Wild Animals Act made it too expensive to keep big cats.
The questions therefore remain, what are they and where have they come from? With the orthodox explanations overturned, Merrily Harpur searches for clues in the cultures of other times and places. She discovers our mystery felines have been with us for longer than we imagine, and throws unexpected light on the way Western civilisation looks at the world.
Mystery Big Cats is the first serious and comprehensive book on the subject. From the drama of eyewitnesses' verbatim accounts to the excitement of new perspectives and insights into a strange and often terrifying experience – it gets to grips with what is now the commonest encounter with the unknown in Britain.
Merrily Harpur is a cartoonist and writer. She has published three books: The Nightmares of Dream Topping, Unheard of Ambridge and Pig Overboard. She divides her time between Dorset and Ireland, where she founded the Strokestown International Poetry Festival. More information at www.harpur.org