'Beast of Cumbria' - The theories behind the 'big cat'

The first recorded sightings of big cats roaming in the UK countryside date all the way back to 1860 in the Victorian era when wealthy people were known to keep big cats.

The sightings in Cumbria can be said to be unique as they are predominantly of a 'black panther' or 'black leopard', hence the image associated with the so-called 'beast'.

Lynx, lions and caracals have also featured in eye witness accounts however, particularly in South Cumbria. 

An alleged caracal spotted in the Lake District in 2020In October of last year, DNA evidence was discovered in the region when dedicated big cat hunter Sharon Larkin-Snowden took three swabs from a sheep carcass she came upon

She passed the swabs to producer of Big Cat Conversations podcast Rick Minter who sent the swabs off to a specialist lab at the University of Warwick.

Here, Professor Robin Allaby, confirmed that 'panthera' DNA was discovered from the genus of big cats, with two of the swabs yielding fox DNA.

Since the confirmation, according to research by shoe retailer Aussieboots, searches from Big Cats UK shot up by 49% in August - the same month a mum and cub were spotted in the Cumbrian countryside. 

Locations of sightings are often kept a secret to avoid trophy hunters or landowners being swapped with visitors. 

Here are some theories behind what the Beast of Cumbria actually is:

Exotic pets released into the wild

As well as the Victorian era, it also became fashionable to keep big cats as pets and in private menageries in the 1960s and early '70s - they could even be bought from Harrods!

One very credible theory is that the owners of such big cats couldn't afford the new regulations and insurance costs after the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976.

What we see today, and what there may be DNA evidence of, are the ancestors of these animals released into the wild.

A 'big cat' spotted in Dalton in 2019 by a dog walkerIn 2003, a 'lion' was spotted in a field opposite South Lakes Wild Animal Park at Dalton-in-Furness, near Barrow.

Police officers sent to the scene however found no evidence of the animal being there. Subsequent checks at the zoo found that all of its lions were accounted for.

A '22-inch cat' was also found in Dalton in 2008, however some say it had more the features of a domestic cat than a zoo cat. A big black cat was also spotted in Dalton by a dog walker in 2019.

According to the Guardian, Rick Minter, theorises that the cats may be discarded military mascots or illegally traded wildlife released into the wild.

Rick's interest was born out of a visit to Cumbria, in which he claims to have seen what he thought was a Labrador dog, but was actually a 'long cat-like form' with a tubular tail on closer inspection.

The sheep carcass where the DNA swabs came from last year (Image: Sharon Larkin-Snowden)