Big Cat Conversations

Nov 16 2024 118 ep. 66 mins 1.3k
Big Cat Conversations Podcast artwork

The People's Podcast on Big Cat encounters in Britain. In each episode Rick Minter discusses big cat sightings with different witnesses, finding out what they saw or sensed, how they felt, and how these cases fit a bigger picture.

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BCC EP:118 Mother & cub on the moors – son of the Exmoor Beast

Nov 16 2024 59 mins  
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 soldier

BCC EP:117 The leopard, the cub & the farmyard strays – in the company of cats

Oct 25 2024 77 mins  
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 repo

BCC EP:116 The clawed carcass - grappling with the evidence?

Oct 04 2024 60 mins  
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 carcasse

BCC EP:115 The leopard trail to Skye

Sep 12 2024 78 mins  
Our first guest Graham recounts a close encounter with a large black cat on the Isle of Skye during one of his fishing trips. We discuss how a cat like a black leopard could have arrived on Skye and how well such a cat could go unnoticed in the island’s wild terrain. For our second guest we catch up with Scotland research coordinator Paul Macdonald. Amongst recent highlights he d

BCC EP:114 Wye Valley pumas – the rescued & the wild

Aug 21 2024 86 mins  
In this Summer edition we discuss pumas encountered in the wild on the England & Wales border in the Wye Valley, but we also visit a special sanctuary for re-homed exotic pets, also in the Wye Valley area. Our first guest Grant, explains how he and friends were advanced on by a puma when they were out lamping foxes one night. Grant describes the intense eye shine and what happe

BCC EP:113 Daybreak with the Cheshire leopards

Jul 27 2024 73 mins  
Steve our guest trains his working gun dog, a springer spaniel every morning at dawn. We hear of four occasions when he’s encountered a large black cat in his local Cheshire countryside. For one of the sightings the animal had a pronounced limp. On the BCC website (Refs & Links, Ep 113) Steve compares his sighting to the footage of a limping large black cat filmed in Scotland

BCC EP:112 The policeman, the prints & the calling leopard

Jul 03 2024 80 mins  
Our first guest Richard recounts a sudden episode of big cat reports from his time as a local police officer in Wiltshire. One of the cases involved a threatened domestic cat.In the second part we catch up with tracker and wildlife guide Mark Graves who was first on ep 95. He explains why some photographed footprints and plaster casts are evidence for big cats in Scotland and in Do

BCC EP:111 Cat at the campsite, panther at the portaloo

Jun 08 2024 66 mins  
We hear from Andy and from Gail, the different witnesses mentioned by Nick on his farm in episode 109. Andy and Gail speak about their own various big cat incidents during their farm visits, and they have each had one close up account… Andy confronted a large black “panther-leopard” one evening at the barns. Gail was on her way to the campsite portaloo when she watched a big

BCC EP:110 Panthera Cumbria - DNA developments

May 13 2024 88 mins  
In this Cumbria update we discuss new DNA evidence with Sharon Larkin-Snowden following her input to episode 101. In October 2023 Sharon found a freshly consumed sheep carcass. Without realising, she also disturbed a big black cat at the scene. Later she swabbed the carcass for any saliva present, for a lab test. She and Rick discuss the DNA result which came back from the Universi

BCC EP:109 The changing farm - new woods & new predators

Apr 19 2024 74 mins  
Nick runs a farm in the English midlands which is now transforming to wildlife friendly woods and meadows. Amongst the farm’s wildlife are sightings and signs of big cats. Nick recounts people’s big cat encounters in the area and he describes the suspicious prints and the potential big cat lay-up spot found on his farm. He runs the farm in the knowledge that big cats have becom