Skid Roche

Big Cats Loose in Britain is a new book by Marcus Matthews published by New Zealand’s Centre for Fortean Zoology, an organization that believes “At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. “

In case you didn’t know, while large felines roam five of our Earth’s fine continents, there are no big cats in Britain. Or are there?!??

The new book “looks at the body of anecdotal evidence” to support the hypothesis that large fluffies roam the British countryside stalking livestock, mousie friends and the occasional pubgoer stumbling home at 3 a.m. singing “I’m the Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.” Matthews looks at “sightings, livestock kills, pawprints and photographs,” establishing a body of evidence for species of Morris Enormis sauntering through the remote hills of Merry Old.

In fact, there’s quite a community of folks joining the search for big cats in Britain, notably ukbigcats.co.uk, the British Big Cat Society, and the Big Cat Research Group, which has helpful animated GIFs of running cats on its website so you can see what a fleeing cryptozoological marvel looks like, in case you’re going hiking in Cumbria.

Link via MonsterUSA.

Update 7/13/07: See the full MonsterUSA review of Big Cats Loose in Britain.