A Northampton big cat tracker has spoken about the work of a group tracking sightings across the country.

Chris, 47, from Northampton, has been following big cat reports for several years and is part of the Sighted Big Cats in Britain group.

Last month, the Chronicle & Echo reported on a recent sighting of a mysterious animal in Rye Hill, Northampton, bringing the work of the group to the fore both locally and nationally, after the sighting also appeared in The Sun.

Chris explained why he believes a small number of big cats exist in the UK.

People had a very different attitude to big cats in decades gone by. Many people kept them as pets, this woman was pictured window-shopping in Earls Court, London, with a four-year-old cheetah. (Photo by B C Parade/Getty Images)

placeholder image — People had a very different attitude to big cats in decades gone by. Many people kept them as pets, this woman was pictured window-shopping in Earls Court, London, with a four-year-old cheetah. (Photo by B C Parade/Getty Images)

He said: “People used to keep exotic cats here in the UK back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. You could buy them from Harrods in London and, you know, there were people walking around London, rich people walking around London with a cheetah on its leash and everything.

“I think it all changed because a young child got bit by a leopard in London. I think that's what I did hear. Somebody had one on a leash and a young child got bit by a leopard and that's why this new law came out in 1976 – Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 – you had to have this special licence to keep one.

“This licence was very expensive to have so a lot of people got rid of their animals the proper way by giving them to zoos, but a lot of them they couldn't get rid of and they didn't want to see them get put to sleep, so they released them into the countryside. Back then it wasn't illegal.

“The Government brought out a new law in the ‘80s – Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 – to say you couldn't release non-native animals back into the countryside. But like I said, when they did do it, it wasn’t illegal.

“You had famous people, like circuses, admitting to releasing five pumas. And there's been a farmer in Rutland area, he admitted to releasing two pumas up there. And they've just let them go off.”

Chris added: “The thing is with pumas and leopards, they're quite adaptable to any climate. As you well know, a puma lives in all the Americas from south to north, you know, in the Rockies, mountains and everything into quite a hot climate. They'll adapt as will a leopard.”

Explaining how big cat trackers operate, Chris said: “I'm not an expert but I've been doing this for quite a few years now.

“I've always been interested in this subject and I've just got on board with the right group, which is Sighted Big Cats in Britain on Facebook.

“So I got on with them, and then I got involved with the right crew and everything, some other experts and ex-trackers and everything like that.

“And one of them took me under his wing, taught me quite a few things, we've met up a few times.

“Yeah, he's taught me quite a few things. He's ex-military and ex-police and everything, so he's done a bit of tracking as well in his time, and he told me quite a few stories regarding big cats.

“We've also got a research group, it's a private group that we all go to, and so we're like the researchers dotted all over the country.

“We normally get reports, so we get reports of a sighting, and we have to take everything seriously.

“We go out and have a look, and we just have a look, see if we can find prints, can we find fur stuck to barbed wire, let's say. And if we do, we have got access to DNA analysis and everything.

“We've got two universities that do this for us, if we find anything, and we can send it off and get a report back on it.”

Giving an example of DNA testing in action, Chris said: “One of them's already been done, quite well known in Cumbria, a woman who's actually in our group, she thought what she'd seen was a black leopard eating a sheep.

“She done the right thing by going out to the kill and taking DNA samples, sent it off, and it came back as a leopard.”

Asked if he’s ever spotted a big cat in the UK, Chris said: “I personally have never seen anything, or never found anything.

“I mean, I will go all over the country if I've got time and everything, but I do just look after Northamptonshire, really.”

Asked why there hasn’t been more – if any – reports on big cats attacking humans in the UK, Chris said: “There's so much food to choose from.

“The amount of deer we've got, foxes, rabbits, everything like that, you know, there's loads of food for them to choose from, rather than tackling a human.

“They know that we're a danger. And the way they see it is, if they get injured, they can't hunt.

“If they can't hunt, they will die, you know what I mean, so it's not worth taking a human on.

“Every person that I've spoken to that has had a sighting. They've seen the cat, the cat's seen them, the cat moves on.

“It’s never been in contact that close to somebody to be cornered. I think if the cat was cornered it's going to attack.

“But it'd rather not, it'd rather keep its distance. It sees you, you see it, it moves on.”

Asked about those who would dismiss the big cat theory in the UK, Chris said: “That's fine. We're still trying to prove it. You know, we only going on hearsay. I mean, we've got a few people on our group that say I've actually seen them, but you know, again, I've got some trusted people that I've seen them, but again, I'm just going on what they say. For all I know, they could be lying. I don't know.”

He added: “There's no reason why such animals can't live in this country. I don't believe there's that many of them. I don't believe there's loads of them hanging around. I wouldn't like to put a number on it, but yeah, I don't think there's as many as what people think.

“And I think these animals move around a lot as well. They travel, I think they can travel up to about 50 miles a day. And they probably move around at night. They use disused railways, used railways to get around just so we don't see them. They'll move around that way, sleep during the day and go hunting at night.

“I've never seen one personally, but I'll keep tracking them. It's a passion of mine. And I do believe they're out there. And this is what we're trying to prove.

“Are they still being put illegally in this country? Is somebody out there doing it still? Or are they still breeding from back in the 1970s when they were released? This is the question is what we've got to ask. But this is what we do. This is what we're tracking them for. And we do, we want to protect them as well. We don't want to hunt them. We want them to thrive here.”

If you spot a big cat in Northamptonshire contact Chronicle & Echo as well as the Sighted Big Cats in Britain Facebook group.