'Big cat' could be out there in South Lakeland, says TV expert (From The Westmorland Gazette)

'Big cat' could be out there in South Lakeland, says TV expert

3:50pm Wednesday 8th February 2012 in News By Steven Bell, Reporter

ONE of television’s most respected wildlife experts has added weight to the theory that big cats may be roaming the South Lakeland countryside.

BBC Springwatch pres-enter Chris Packham said the fact that the vast majority of wild animals tried avoiding contact with humans – making them ‘almost impossible’ to find – was one of the reasons big cats could be at large.

It follows two sightings of a jet black cat the size of a labrador on Scout Scar in recent weeks and dozens of others across South Lake-land over the last decade.

Mr Packham said: “I have it on good authority that a lynx lived in woods in the outskirts of Southampton for several years.

“No one ever saw it – but I know from a trusted source that its footprints were regularly found.”

He added: “There is no doubt these creatures could survive in the UK. They have food, an ideal habitat and, surprisingly enough, even ample space.”

He was writing in a national newspaper using the recent sighting on Scout Scar by runners Angela Jones and Eve Grayson – as reported in The Westmorland Gazette – as the basis of his article.