The mysterious British "big cat" turned out to be a real panther

For decades, in some parts of the UK, especially in Scotland, there have been stories of mysterious, almost mystical "big cats" resembling cougars, black leopards or jaguars.

These elusive "big cats" often attacked sheep, leaving surprisingly few physical traces. Consequently, there were rumors among the population that these "cats" come from another kingdom, not completely bound by flesh and blood.

Over time, numerous eyewitnesses took photos of these mysterious representatives of the feline family, but most of them were either too fuzzy or taken from a considerable distance, which made the creatures barely distinguishable.

It is noteworthy that recently a resident of Staffordshire managed to photograph one such "big cat", finding it lying among the tall grass in a field. Although the image quality may be suboptimal, it remains the most accurate depiction of this creature to date, uniquely identifying it as a black leopard (panther).

This sensational image takes center stage in the new documentary "Panthera Britannia Declassified", recently shown on Amazon Prime and has already received numerous accolades.

The excavation of the image turned out to be accidental, as the director of the zoological center stumbled upon it while sifting through the archives. The photo was taken several years before and subsequently "lost".

"The photo clearly shows a large panther with a noticeable mustache. A mysterious handwritten letter was attached to the image, on which there was only the date (March 17) without a year," the director of the center notes.

Although the letter does not contain the full signature and address of the sender, it confirms the authenticity of the image. If its authenticity is proven, this photo may become the main image of the elusive British "big cat", according to the director of the center.

The film also tells about biological material that was found at the site of a sheep slaughterhouse in Gloucestershire in 2022, DNA analysis of which confirms the presence of a large feline there.

"This amazing lost photograph and an amazing new scientific discovery are just part of the collective evidence presented in our film. The documentary is mostly based on conclusions. We used real science and real experts and tried to be as objective and analytical as possible," says Tom Whittard, director of British Panther Unmasked.

"The research process during filming was stressful and exhausting and took us thousands of hours in various archives, libraries, museums and laboratories. We also traveled to places in the wild and met hundreds of eyewitnesses.

The result is a mind-blowing journey for viewers that really highlights this topic as a serious zoological problem.

It's a sad story — these majestic big cats probably lived in private zoos until 1976, when the mandatory licensing law was passed in the UK. At that time, big cats were popular, fashionable and considered a status symbol.

When the law on licensing exotic animals was passed, many owners simply released their pets into the countryside. In fact, those "big cats" that people see now are the descendants of abandoned pets."