London police reveal big cat reports since 2015

One wildlife expert recently estimated there could be as many as 500 big cats roaming about the UK.

Dr Andrew Hemmings, of the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, believes there are hundreds of large predatory cats in the wild.

Possibly around 250 black leopards and 250 pumas in rural areas of the UK.

• SEE ALSO: ​A breakdown of all the big cat sightings reported across London

Many sightings have been debunked as hoaxes or misidentifications, but there are a still a fair few of the 2,000 or so that are recorded every year that remain mysteries.

Big cat sightings in the UK in recent years include leopards, panthers, jaguars and jungle cats.

Although suspected sightings of that particular beast have gone quiet over the past few years, police continue to field calls reporting big cats across London.

There have been several reports of big cats sighted in London in recent years

A Freedom of Information request has revealed the number of sightings across London since 2015.

The Met Police were asked to provide all reports which included phrases including big cat, puma, panther, lion, tiger, large cat, cheetah, lynx or leopard.

The police revealed that there has been 37 reports during that timeframe.

A breakdown by borough has been provided below:

According to the BBC, cave lions died out in the UK around 12,000 to 14,000 years ago.

The date of their extinction coincides with the period of time at which humans were getting into farming.

This was the "quaternary extinction event", when ice retreated from the northern hemispheres.

• SEE ALSO: ​Father-of-four and puppy pursued by giant cat

During this time, animals including the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave bear, and steppe bison went extinct from northern Europe.

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