Since publishing the initial results of our ‘Big Cat Survey’, our Big Cat Blog has been somewhat quiet. Firstly we would like to apologise for this.
The Big Cat work that we have been conducting here at CCRI has always been something of a secondary focus for those involved as commitments associated with contract work, teaching and appearances at conferences would inevitably take precedence. That isn’t to say things haven’t happening – just not at the pace that would be preferable. This has further been compounded by staff taking leave during the ‘summer’ period.
However, last week the team had a meeting to discuss the next steps, and purely by coincidence over the Bank Holiday weekend, there were a number of sightings in the Gloucestershire area and of course the Essex ‘Lion’ that made national headlines.
Driver Swerves to avoid big black cat
Big Cat Sightings in Gloucestershire in 2012
One of the areas that we have been working on over the past couple of months is an analysis of local press reports of the various sightings. We have been able to access historical articles dating back to early 1998 detailing Big Cat sightings, although the majority of reports come from the last 4-5 years. This is inevitably taking some time, as there are in excess of 100 articles to analyse.
The other area we intend to consider is existing academic literature. There is not substantial literature directly related to big cat sightings in academic publications, although we have located a number of articles. There is however a much larger selection of published literature (both journal articles and books) related to ‘Cryptozoology’ and ‘Cryptids’ – an area that big cat and their associated sightings would be included within.
We are aiming to produce a finished paper/report towards the end of 2012, which we hope will be published and be of particular interest to those within the Gloucestershire region and beyond.
In the meantime, if you would like to contact us regarding our work, or anything associated with big cat sightings, please visit www.ccri.ac.uk for contact details.
