OMG my fears were confirmed - horse attacked by 'big cat'

We have them down here in Pembrokeshire. My OH was out checking the sheep, when he noticed a pile of sheeps fleece in the middle of the field, with drag marks to the sheep fence, he found the remains of the ewe about 100yds into the next field. The fence was about 4 and a half feet high, the sheep must have weighed about 7 stone, so whatever killed it and dragged it over the fence was big!!!!!!!!!!!!! All that was left were bones and fleece. The sheep are checked ever day.

I know 3 people who have seen black panthers, or something very similar. Always in the winter.
 
Convinced I saw a big cat while exercising my horse at about 6am I can tell you our hill work became dramatically faster in subsequent days! and night time horse checks let the dogs out first just in case always had the feeling of being watched.
But that's just me being a chicken. Might be interesting to ask hunt staff their experiences as they must (have) flush woods and scared out more than deer and rabbits.
But cringe so scarey and makes you feel so helpless that horses are just in the field no protection! :eek:
 
Haven't seen pic yet, but will have a look in a bit.

Years ago, when I was about 16yrs old, my pony was kept at my friends house and I was up in the field feeding him, when he stared at something I looked over and I swear to god it was a huge black cat like a panther or something, it was the other side of the field, running down the side away from us.

Now the grass was old grass about knee high or more, and this was over the top of that! When I mentioned it to him, I was told local farmrers had spoken about there being some big black cat in the area. Eek!
 
I strongly suspect that there is now a big cat out there nursing several bruised ribs and thinking that those funny looking deer can pack a punch :eek:and are not worth the effort.:D
 
Mike007 said:
I strongly suspect that there is now a big cat out there nursing several bruised ribs and thinking that those funny looking deer can pack a punch :eek:and are not worth the effort.:D
Click to expand...

LOL, I sincerely hope you are right. Poor old horse, those scratches look painful - how can anybody think they were done by another horse?
 
Could the horse be kept in at night or moved to a field by the house?

I did a horseback safari in a reserve where the horses lived loose in the park with the game, they had leopards so I asked about the risk to the horses, I was told that a leopard wouldn't risk attacking a healthy adult horse but the foals were kept by the house for the first few weeks.They were then turned out with the others & they'd never had a problem.

These were people who'd lived with leopards for years yet they never saw them, so what could we be living with that we never see?

Big cats have been seen where I live but I'm not worried about the horses, my OH has seen it crossing the road at night between Banbury & Bicester, it was also seen at the back of Bullingdon Prison by staff doing an evening wall check. 1 of the men who saw it used to be a game keeper so I trust him to know what he's talking about. These incidents happened about 13 years ago so that cat has probably died by now but it sounds like they're breeding so if it had cubs they could still be around.

I hope they're left in peace to carry on living their secretive lives without trophy hunters hunting them down.
 
One of our foals disappeared randomly from the field a couple of years back. We live in an area where big cat sightings are not unheard of as well. Unfortunately all we found were the bones two days later, nothing else left, down a steep gully close to the farm. Awful incident, there were a lot of sheep deaths around here that summer too.
 
OMG - I am really shocked to hear all these stories.

Where I live there arn't many woods, its just mainly oilseed rape and haylage fields. It must be an awful feeling being out after dark in some of these places.
 
Mule1-1.jpg


I can lend you a mule if you like ;)
 
Same as Mike007, I remeber the Surrey Puma incidents and I saw "something" on the edge of Bramshill forest in the dusk many years ago. It was big enough in it's presence to affect the horse who noticed it by instinct/smell/fear before I did, then when I looked across the undergrowth expecting to see a deer or muntjac there was something big and dark in there with a long tail, crouching down, defintieley not a dog and far too big to be a cat. At the time, the Basingstoke Gazette were NOT interested, even though it was seen in a zone where you have to pay to ride.
 
Gah - where did my reply disappear to?

Anyway, just to repeat, that poor horse, what shocking injuries :(

I also wanted to add that we have big cats here and a sure tell tale sign is when you find part of a sheep carcass wedged up a tree. Big cats like to take their catch and eat it up a tree in safety.

I can take you to a spot right now where there is an old bit of fleece still wedged in the fork of a tree.

I am absolutely adamant that I saw a big black cat twice recently - heading into the pheasant pens. Its easy pickings for them here with 25,000 pheasants and 5,000 partridges put down every year on this farm alone.
 
i saw on probs discovery channel that the outbreak of cats was because in 60's/70's (i think) people started keeping exotic cats in the uk some couldn't afford to feed them so they just let them go over the years they bred there has been over 1million sighting of black cats i myself saw one when i was 12 walking dogs and we all ran 2 miles home! i tell ya i pooped my pants
 
boogles said:
Oh my goodness, poor horse :(

Luckily we have not had any sitings of big cats where I keep the boys now but there were where I used to keep them...........You can imagine my stomach churn when I frequently founs sheep / goat legs in B's field :o
Click to expand...

Where on earth did you used to have them?? :0
 
Bl**dy hell, poor horse! How could anyone think your horse did that - unless he's got claws?!

Hope the old boy makes a good recovery and can get out in his field again :)
 
nasty injuries, poor horse must have been very shocked.
they are usually called Alien Big Cats (ABCs) in the UK, there's quite a lot of info about them online, pics etc. I heard one at night in my field when I lived in Staffs (scared the bejeezus out of me), and then neighbour's husband and son saw it the next morning when driving to work early, and postmistress saw it that day. I saw it a few days later in farmer's field when out hacking. His wife had seen one on Cannock Chase, about 15 miles away from where I lived at the time. Leics is a bit of a hotspot for sightings, appara.
I joined a group online to find out info of how to protect my horses. They said that putting rugs on is the best thing, as cats will be deterred by the fabric. If you're worried about them coming onto your yard for chickens, dogs etc (unlikely but possible i guess, farmer friend had 2 big fat geese taken from field right by farmhouse 1 night) then a, umm, 'perimeter sprinkle' of human urine is apparently a good deterrent... easier for men to do, obv!!! (wouldn't want to be surprised by an ABC while crouching with pants down!) ;) ;)
One of the members of the group I joined lived in Wales, with fields bordered by forest. She'd lost a big ID foal over the fence, completely gone, mare was going mental and was a v protective big brave mare too... so, they are out there, we're just v lucky that they seldom attack horses. I saw a horse in Northants that had been attacked, similar wounds to OP's horse.
Was also told that the ABCs use canals as 'motorways' to get around the country, and will often do a big long loop which takes a few years to do, reappearing occasionally, rather than being strictly territorial. Maybe this is just the males, I don't know.
Btw, Govt will not acknowledge that they exist because if they did, they'd have to pay out compensation to farmers for slaughtered sheep, I was told.
You can't legally shoot one even if you see one (unless it is self-defence I guess) because you can't get a licence to shoot them in this country, because they don't exist... ;) ;)
 
when I was a kid I lived in Epsom (70s), ponies were kept at a livery on the Hook Road which had a circus stay every year. Lions got out one year and killed one horse and another (lovely Hackney called Jack) was later PTS due to his injuries-the slashes look very similar to what I remember seeing on Jack although he had more of them. hope he's feeling more comfortable soon.
 
Those photos are absolutely stomach churning! Poor lad. Would a large cat have given up? Could this have been a large bird of prey?
 
Fellewell said:
Those photos are absolutely stomach churning! Poor lad. Would a large cat have given up? Could this have been a large bird of prey?
Click to expand...
A solitary preditor such as a leopard or jaguar can't risk getting injured so if it's prey fights back a lot it will give up so it can fight another day rather than risk an injury & starve.
I can't imagine what sort of bird would cause those injuries.
 
milo'n'molly said:
sorry for being dense. where are the photos:confused::confused::confused:
Click to expand...

First page, about half way down there is a link to photobucket.

My friend told me about this and showed me the pics.... OMG that is terrible I've never seen or heard of anything like it - the scratches look so painful no wonder the poor thing wont go back in the field.

Thank god he is ok
 
turkana said:
A solitary preditor such as a leopard or jaguar can't risk getting injured so if it's prey fights back a lot it will give up so it can fight another day rather than risk an injury & starve.
I can't imagine what sort of bird would cause those injuries.
Click to expand...

It's just a thought, but people do use birds of prey for hunting. Some of these people own eagles and it is not unknown for an eagle to attack a deer. We know only too well that there are irresponsible animal owners, it is possible that some of these birds could be in the wrong hands.
 
Is the horse is still quidding?

If you haven't done so already it might be worth have a very good look around his mouth to make sure he's not broken a tooth, cut his cheeks etc - perhaps while trying to defend himself. Mouth issues can become infected super fast and need expensive and lengthy treatment.

Poor horse - what ever the cause these injuries are awful.
 
Hope the poor old boy feels better soon about the attack.
Looks like very scary injuries, cannot think it would be anything else.
I saw a large black puma type cat back in wales one day where i grew up, it was a bit scary!thankfully it was a way away, but still it scared me
 
No a bird of prey would not be interested in a horse they are far too big to be the natural food source for a bird of prey - they tend to go for rabbit size things that they can pick up and fly off with.

Fellewell said:
Those photos are absolutely stomach churning! Poor lad. Would a large cat have given up? Could this have been a large bird of prey?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top