Trackers Follow-up Monmouthshire Cat Sighting
Two African wildlife trackers are hot on the trail of a big cat after another sighting yesterday morning [Sept. 8] near the village of Trellech in Monmouthshire. Denise Lewis, of The Narth, near Trellech, was driving from Monmouth to Trellech on the B4293 at 9.20am when she saw a big black cat run across the road in front of her and leap up a bank into some woodland.[Original headline: Motorist Saw Big Cat Run Into Woods]
“I was driving past the local ostrich farm when I saw what I thought at first was a dog running on to the road,” said Mrs Lewis, who works at the Trekkers public house in The Narth. “I slowed down but saw that it was longer than a dog.
“And whereas a dog would walk into the woods, it leaped up the bank. I thought, Oh My God, that’s a cat. I was quite shocked.”
Mrs Lewis quickly reported her sighting to Zimbabwean wildlife conservationist Anthony Holloway and professional game hunter Johan Bezuidenhout, who are in Trellech with a BBC film crew to investigate recent big cat sightings there.
“They were very keen to get out there and try to pick up its tracks,” she said.
Last night BBC Wales producer David Howard said a request had been made to Longleat Safari Park for a suitable cage to be brought over to Trellech just in case the cat was caught.
If successfully trapped, the cat, thought to be a puma or a black leopard, will be handed over to London Zoo.
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Western Mail & Echo | By Rhodri Owen - September 9 2000
African Wildlife Experts In Welsh Big Cat Hunt
The man walking his dog through woods near Trellech, Monmouthshire, didn’t look too surprised to see two African wildlife experts bent over a muddy path looking for leopard tracks.[Original headline: Safari So Good On Trail Of Big Cat ]
Since last month, when schoolboy Josh Hopkins had his face scratched by a large black cat, thought to be a puma or a black leopard, talk of big cats has been rife around this quiet rural village in South-East Wales.
“I saw a black cat in here yesterday,” the dog-walker shouted through the trees to Anthony Holloway of the Wildlife Association of Zimbabwe and professional game hunter Johan Bezuidenhout. “But it was only a moggy.”
The two Zimbabweans are spending three weeks investigating a number of big cat sightings around South and Mid Wales for a BBC Wales TV documentary, To Catch A Cat. And for their part they admitted that they had also thought sightings of big cats in Wales were hoaxes.
But since arriving in Wales, looking at the lie of the land and talking to locals - including Josh Hopkins - both men are now convinced there are big cats living and breeding in the Welsh countryside.
And, on a serious note, they have warned that human lives could be at risk unless prompt action is taken to address the problem seriously.
Mr Holloway, a tobacco farmer and safari operator from Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe, and Mr Bezuidenhout, a fully qualified hunter conservationist, have been joined in their search by English wild cat expert Quentin Rose.
They were originally due to spend their visit in and around Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron, near Lampeter, where the so-called Beast of Bont has been spotted. But when news broke of Josh Hopkins’s encounter, they travelled instead to Trellech.
“I was incredibly sceptical about this whole thing,” said Mr Holloway, who has been involved in game conservation for 30 years, “but then I started getting more information and it piqued my curiosity and I thought, they’ve got a point here.
Mr Bezuidenhout said, “Now it’s a challenge. Now I actually want to go out there and find it.”
It is known that a number of big cats - once kept as status symbols pets - were released into the wild in the UK as an indirect result of the 1975 Dangerous Wild Animals Act.
At first it was thought they would not survive, but the increasing incidence of sightings over the past few years would suggest that the cats have successfully adapted to the countryside and bred.
“When we got here the first thing we asked the police was, How many sightings have you had over the last six months?” said Mr Holloway. “Basically it was quite scattered. But since the incident with Joshua it’s been virtually every three days.
“Speaking to the locals here, a lot of them have seen the cat before, but didn’t say anything because they didn’t want to be ridiculed.”
All three experts were keen to stress that if not aggravated, the cats posed no danger to humans. But they underlined that if left alone to continue breeding, the cats would soon become a dangerous problem.
“Sooner or later, if somebody hurts one of these animals someone is going to be killed,” said Mr Holloway.
“The British love animals and if they hit an animal with their car they are going to get out and have a look. If it’s a big cat and it’s hurt and angry it’s going to attack him.
“In the run long, as far as the natural ecological balance in this country is concerned, they are going to have to be dealt with anyway.
“Because of the exponential rate at which they are breeding, if you don’t do it now, next year the problem has doubled.”
Mr Rose appealed to farmers worried about livestock not to try to shoot a big cat as they would a rogue dog.
“They have to be trapped by professionals in a controlled manner,” he said. “A wounded animal is much more dangerous to humans.”
Mr Rose said the problem was a government responsibility.
“In Wales the buck stops with the National Assembly.
“They can’t put it off on to anyone else. It’s their responsibility. If anybody is killed and they have been prewarned then the buck stops with them.”
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Western Mail & Echo | By Rhodri Owen - September 5 2000
