‘Clearest photo of big cat in UK countryside’ released by filmmakers

Filmmakers of a documentary claiming there are wildcats roaming the British countryside say they have found the ‘clearest’ photo of a big cat.

Dragonfly Films, makers of the documentary Panthera Britannia Declassified, show the photo in their film of a huge black cat with big green eyes, resembling a panther, resting in the long grass in the Smallthorne area of Staffordshire.

The photo was discovered among the files of a zoology organisation, unearthed by its assistant director. 

Accompanying the picture was a note dated March 17th, with no indication of which year or any details of who captured the image, or details of the sender.

Described as the ‘Beast of Smallthorne’, the hand-written note says the photo was taken near the lake at Ford Green Nature Nature Reserve at 12.36pm. The letter can be seen in the documentary.

The image of the big cat is featured in the documentary and experts say it is ‘probably the best photo of a British big cat that exists’.

Tim Whittard, producer of Panthera Britannia Declassified, said: “The story is a sad one really – these majestic big cats could be legally owned without a licence in the UK until 1976 and were very popular, being seen as fashionable status symbols at the time.

”When the laws surrounding exotic animal ownership changed a lot of people released their big cats into the countryside.’ So essentially, the animals people are seeing today are the offspring of abandoned pets for the most part.”

He said that while the evidence points towards big cats existing in the British countryside, this would pose a ‘serious zoological issue’. 

”This astonishing lost photograph and amazing new scientific discovery form only a fraction of the collective evidence on display in the film,” he added.

“The research process for this show was intensive and exhaustive, and took us thousands of hours in various archives, libraries, museums, and laboratories, as well as in the field and meeting hundreds of eyewitnesses.

”The result is a mind-blowing voyage of discovery for viewers, which really takes this forward as a serious zoological issue.”