FAKE! DNA evidence to prove that big cats prowl British countryside!?

The British news media, at the moment (mid-May 2023), are stating that DNA evidence from a black hair strand caught on a barbed wire fence following a sheep attack has offered "definitive proof" that big cats are roaming the British countryside. Don't believe it. This is fake in my view but I stress this is my opinion.

The picture in the circle is a stock image from Alamy of a genuine black big cat (melanistic) while the blurry one is of a domestic cat crossing a field! Image: LBC.

There is a band of people in Britain who have been trying to prove that there are big cats - normally black panthers - roaming around the British countryside surreptitiously and have been for decades.

My suggestion (allegation) is that one of these band of brothers has got hold of a black hair strand from a melanistic jaguar i.e. black panther from a zoo because they have a friend working in the zoo and they have placed this black hair on a barbed wire fence and then commissioned a laboratory to do a DNA test on it. They've worked with the documentary film maker to do this (see below).

That I think is a very fair allegation because there is simply no evidence whatsoever to prove that there are big cats in the British countryside. People have been taking photographs and videos of big cats for decades and they are always fuzzy images and the cats are always domestic cats on analysis.

You have to have an inordinate amount of faith to believe what these big cat conspiracists want us to believe.

The LBC website say that this is a "shocking revelation" (LOL). It comes after a documentary film maker spent years investigating sightings across the country they say.

This mysterious black feline hair strand was recovered from a farm in Gloucestershire where there has been some unusual predatory activity. And there is apparently video footage of a large black animal in the area. They mean a domestic cat.

The picture above published on the LBC website shows a black panther - a genuine black big cat - but it is a stock photograph.

Matthew Everett from Dragonfly Films said:

The DNA was from hairs caught on a barbwire fence where there had been some unusual predatory activity.

"It's taken five years for the production team to find such evidence and film its journey from collection to analysis.

"People in Gloucestershire and Britain have described what appear to be black leopards for decades. So, a leopard DNA result from a black hair sample is unsurprising.

"This is not the first such DNA result and is unlikely to be the last.

"There is a great deal of 'secondary evidence' for these cats, such as consistent witness reports, but hard evidence like DNA is hard to get, so the contribution from this documentary is very helpful.

"Collecting such evidence from local people, farmers and landowners is essential - Citizen Science like this will hopefully help us learn more about the Bagheera type big cats which may be quietly naturalising here."

Dragonfly Films are looking into broadcast options for the documentary film. I will look forward to seeing it. But I do not believe a shred of this. It is an attempt to make an interesting film based upon a topic which has fascinated millions of people for a very long time and upon which the news media depend when real news becomes quiet.