Tommy had two sightings of black panthers in the north of Exmoor as a teenager in the 90s. His first viewing was of a mother guiding a small cub, which made a lasting impression on him.

Tommy recounts a local vicar’s sighting of a big black cat at the time, and he explains how local teenagers related to the Exmoor Beast legend. Later in his army career, Tommy heard fellow soldiers admitting to seeing pumas on Ministry of Defence land in Northumberland.

Word of the week: Inquisitive

17 November 2024

Liz describes several encounters with a black leopard visiting the farmyard where she and her husband feed the farm cats. She has been watched and advanced on by the large cat and is now fully alert to its potential presence.

On one occasion Liz noticed a small panther like cat dart out of cover to catch up with the big cat, and realised it was a cub rushing to its mother.

Liz reports how the farm cats change behaviour due to the bigger cats’ presence, and she explains how she and her husband adapt their life, living in anticipation of their new stealthy neighbours.

Words of the week: teddy bear

25 October 2024

Craig our guest returns after episode 72 when he re-lived his Exmoor big cat encounters in the 1980s.

Now based in Herefordshire, Craig explains the big cat reports and potential activity occurring in his own village, right where he walks his dogs. He has been followed by an animal with large piercing eyeshine which alarmed his dogs, and he has recently found two fresh deer carcasses, one freshly devoured, and the other was still warm, had a severed windpipe, and showed claw marks raked down the muzzle and throat.

Craig also had a close view of a puma crossing his path in the Black Mountains, near Hay on Wye, in 2023. His photos and videos of these incidents, showing his immediate reactions, can be viewed on the podcast website…

https://bigcatconversations.com/refs-links/

Word of the week: kleptoparasite

4 October 2024