Wildlife that shouldn't be here

The echoing bellow of a lion can be heard for miles; the baying of wolves is a warning to all and the screams of chimpanzees let you know that you might just be about to interrupt a family dispute. You would never hear those sounds in Berkshire though – or would you?

- Bernard Bale

There are a number of small animal and bird gardens dotted around the county but not since the days of Windsor Safari Park has there been a large zoological collection in Berkshire, so that rules out escapees among the alleged big cat sightings that have been recorded for several decades, doesn’t it? Not entirely.

Back in the 1970s the laws on keeping wild animals – or exotic pets, as they are also known – changed dramatically. Almost overnight lions, tigers, pumas, leopards, bears and all kinds of other creatures were being donated to zoos.

“Almost overnight lions, tigers, pumas, leopards, bears and all kinds of other creatures were being donated to zoos”

On a personal note, since I was involved with wild animal collections as well as being a writer, I was once asked if I could house a tiger, which was a pet on a housing development in Northampton.

When I arrived I expected to be shown to an enclosure in the garden, but instead, a young but full-grown male tiger came bounding into the kitchen. Make no mistake, all big cats are dangerous and especially hand-raised ones. As they get older they want to make their challenge for supremacy and they are so used to having mankind in close contact that they have no second thought about whether or not it is wise to attack.

All that was a long time ago, of course, but some people did not donate their ‘pets’, they simply took them to what they considered to be a remote spot and let them go! Could any of those animals still be alive? Probably not. So what about the big cat sightings that are still reported today?