>>349882For a long time, right up into the sixties or possibly the seventies, there weren't really any restrictions on what you could keep as pets. A fashion developed amongst the wealthy for keeping big cats as domestic pets. When restrictions were finally brought in a lot of these animals suddenly disappeared. A black market sprang up for big cats mainly in England. Many believe that some of these cats escaped or were deliberately released into the countryside resulting in cases such as the Beast of Bodmin or the Rutland Panther. There's also been sightings of American Mountain Lions and several different Lynx. I'm pretty sure I've seen the Panther so there's no doubt in my mind that they're out there. Others think they're just a myth. No decent photographs have been taken yet so it's still up for debate.
