BIG CAT DNA FOUND IN CUMBRIA

Speculation over big cats in our countryside rises as a leopard or jaguar is suspected in a sheep killing

- James Fair

An undisclosed Cumbrian hill farm is the location for the UK's first ever positive identification of big cat DNA taken from a carcass.

In October 2023, Cumbrian resident Sharon Larkin-Snowden came across the carcass and disturbed the animal that had been feeding on it. On big cat expert Rick Minter's Big Cat Conversations podcast, Larkin-Snowden said the carcass was clearly still fresh and only some of the internal organs had been consumed.