For quite some time there have been rumors and contested sightings of big cats in England. Eyewitnesses talk of leopards and possibly other big cats roaming the more secluded parts of the English countryside. Do leopards roam England? DNA evidence strongly suggests they do.
We have written about this before. Panthera genus DNA was found on a mauled sheep. That indicates the sheep was eaten by a tiger, Panthera tigris or a leopard Panthera pardus, or a lion, Panthera leo, or a snow leopard Panthera uncia, or a jaguar., Panthera onca.
Of the big cats the leopard appears the most likely. The British newspaper The Sun is now reporting further details. Do leopards roam England?
Last October Sharon Larkin-Snowden disturbed a predator while it was eating a sheep carcass. DNA was taken and sent to Warwick University. There Professor Robin Allaby lead the research. Allaby studies DNA and genetics especially in plants. He is quite sure the DNA is panthera, but does leave a small room for doubt.
According to the Sun “Sharon took a swab of the carcass and sent it to big cat expert Rick Minte who passed it on to Prof. Allaby, Professor of Life Sciences.
He analysed the sample at his laboratory and discovered both fox and Panthera DNA.
He said the findings suggested the sheep had been eaten by both a fox and a big cat such as a leopard.
Prof Allaby said: “With the evidence we have now I’m 99 per cent sure. I always leave one per cent room for the possibility you may turn out to be wrong no matter how convincing the evidence is.”
The source of the leopards is conjectural. One theory is that tightened laws about the keeping of exotic pets led to the release of large felines.
Minter has a podcast on big cat sightings.
Leopards are extremely adaptable. They can hide in plain sight and are adept at avoiding people. If there is a breeding population in England it will be a testament to how unobservant we can be. More research must be done before we can defnitively answer the question: Do leopards roam England?