'No big cats' in Yorks countryside
5 April 2010
Yorkshire Evening Post
(c) 2010 Johnston Publishing Limited
BIG cats are NOT prowling the countryside of Yorkshire, wildlife experts have declared.
Government agency Natural England made the statement after probing dozens of reported sightings of cougars, pumas and other exotic animals nationwide. A spokeswoman said: "Big cats do escape from zoos or other collections (but] are usually recaptured very quickly.
"We are confident there is no breeding population in this country and it is very unlikely that there are any at large in the English countryside."
The best known big cat supposedly roaming the wilds of the White Rose county is the so-called 'Black Beast of Ossett'. It was reportedly spotted in 2000 in a field close to an old quarry in Coxley Valley, near Ossett.
Similar sightings were claimed a few miles south, in Denby Dale, Scisset, Skelmanthorpe and High Hoyland.
Big cats have also been reported in Leeds at Eccup Reservoir and land off Nursery Lane in Alwoodley.
Some experts believe a number of large felines were released by private collectors after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act came into force in the 1970s and have since bred with native cats to produce hybrids.
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