The Scottish Big Cat Trust

Ben Willis and Exmoor

Ben resides in North Carolina, U.S.A. Around 1996, after seeing a program by Arthur C. Clarke, he became interested in British mystery cats.

Ben has a refreshingly non-European view, and has considerable hands-on experience of many species of cat, both large and small. He and his wife currently share their house with a tame bobcat, named Exmoor, and a black cat, called Panther. The latter is a sibling to two brown feral cats, and resembles a Scottish "Kellas Cat".

Ben has his own web site at http://www.bigcats.org/exmoor/index.html
He can be contacted at exmoor9928541@yahoo.com

Christina de Kéroualle

Christina was born Christina Anne Scott Smith in Edinburgh in July 1974. She is called 'Chris' by exotic cat researchers, 'Anne' by her family, 'Bunty' by her close friends and various other names by her husband. Christina first became interested in felids in 1985 when her father gave her a copy of Michael Boorer's Hamlyn paperback "Wild Cats" (cover price six shillings! Perhaps worth something when we change from Sterling to Euros?). She then devoured the "Born Free" trilogy and other books by Joy Adamson, and George Adamson's biography "Bwana Game".

Christina has a BSc (Hons) in molecular biology, a PhD in biochemistry and an MSc in biocomputing. Her personal interests include whether the Kellas Cat is Scotland's Black Panther and whether the true Scottish Wildcat is now extinct. She has studied coat colour genetics in the mouse and is now applying her findings to the investigation of coat colour variants in cats. Christina also follows big cat sightings in her home areas of Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Christina is currently Honorry Secretary and has been Publications Officer for several years. Her duties include running the website. Her first cat website, set up in September 1997, was a collaboration with her husband, Antoine. This site initially included just a handful of newspaper cuttings concerning sightings from West Lothian and Moray. Before long, the non-native cat sightings began to take over and in February 2000, a dedicated Scottish Big Cats website was set up.

Christina's other interests include dancing, singing, reading, films, theatre, opera, ballet, travel, modeling, radical political reform, FRPGs (Fantasy Rôle Playing Games for the un-initiated), and good food and wine. She especially dislikes the thought of being thirty!

Contact Christina at scottishbigcats@yahoo.com with any problems or suggestions concerning the Scottish Big Cat Trust web site. Clippings from on-line newspapers can also be sent directly to Christina.

John Cathcart and Fran Lockhart

Fran Lockhart was brought up in Easter Ross but lived in Argyll for 10 years where she first became interested in Big Cat Sightings when a close friend saw a puma. Further enquiries in the area revealed that sightings were not uncommon and she caught the bug!

Spurred by a life long interest in wildlife and the environment Fran gave up her equestrian business and headed south to Suffolk to do a degree in Environmental (Conservation) Management. For her third year dissertation at college she carried out a survey of non-native cat sightings in the North of Scotland, liasing closely with John Cathcart (a retired policeman and veteran on the subject) and produced a report, which sadly has been gathering dust until now. Having joined up with the Scottish Big Cat Trust she hopes her findings will help in the team's quest to positively identify Scotland's population(s) of non-native Cats.

Frustrated at having to make do with examining kills and hearing of other people's sightings she bought herself her own Big Cat of sorts in the form of Baxter, a Maine Coon.

Fran's job as a Farm Conservation Advisor for the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group gives her the ideal opportunity to collate sightings and information from farmers who might otherwise not report their experiences. Her main area of interest is the Black Isle where she lives and is something of a non-native cat hot spot but is happy to investigate reports from all over the North of Scotland.

Mobile 0771 3333 201
Day 01463 811 072
Evening 01463 811 654
E-mail FRAN540@aol.com

George Redpath

George Redpath is a retired Police Wildlife Liaison Officer from Fife. He has been investigating non-native cat sightings for many years and recently appeared on BBC Newsnight Scotland with Trust members Mike Inglis and Phil Crosby.

George's interest in big cats dates from early childhood following family trips to various zoos. However, he really got the bug so to speak, in 1965 after doing a study of tigers in the Malaysian Peninsula. He can honestly say that the hair on your neck does tickle when a tiger is stalking you. This from experience.

While serving in the Police George was responsible for recording reported sightings of non-native cats in Fife. As his reputation spread, he received numerous reports from all over Scotland. He spent many years on C.I.D. duties so he is well aware of the amount of evidence required to prove a case, including the existence of exotic cats in Scotland. He has seen non-native cats himself on five occasions.

George still has contact with the police and at their request follows up many of the sightings reported to them.

He is always willing to speak to anyone and give advice etc. about their exotic cat encounters.

George can be contacted at george.redpath@btopenworld.com
Tel home - 01334 870 026
mobile : 07974 110 823
Fax: 01334 870 026

George Markie

George is the one without the feathers.

George first became interested in big cat sightings as a student when the Beast of Exmoor hit the headlines some twenty years ago. His enthusiasm was fired a few years later when he read Karl Shuker's Mystery Cats of the World.

George has been compiling reports of non-native cats sightings in Scotland for many years and has passed dozens on to the Fortean Times. More recently George has been out and about getting involved in the practical side of big cat research with extremely encouraging results.

George specialises in big cat sightings in the Dundee and Angus areas and is also interested in Fife where he had his own sighting in May 2002.

George's other interests include photography and video, music (particularly the blues), films and reading especially Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels.

Phil Crosby

Phil was born in Stoke on Trent in 1966: he's had an interest in wildlife since childhood, cultivated first on camping trips into British countryside, then developed during his early twenties when he taught English in a remote area of Southern Zimbabwe and spent much of his free time watching the wildlife of the region. His interest in cats in Britain stems from a pair of sightings six months apart near to his home - he's still very open minded as to the origins of the cats on the loose in Britain, but firmly believes they do exist.

Previously, Phil lived and worked in Aberdeenshire, where he had two encounters with non-native cats. Phil investigated sightings in the North East of Scotland and has also served as Press Officer for Scottish Big Cats. He currently lives and works in Russia but still follows the Scottish Big Cat scene with interest and contributes where he can.

In July 2002, Phil spent three weeks in Kenya and participated in a DNA-based study into Lions in Tsavo.

Phil's other interests include books, theatre, world politics and particularly history.

Phil can be contacted at crosby-zima@isle.ru

Allan Paul

Allan was born in Morayshire in 1956, and is a meteorologist. In his spare time he cares for a mixture of Scottish wildcats, wildcat hybrids and domestic cats at his home in the Highlands, and is the official studbook keeper for the species, Felis silvestris grampia.

He runs a web site, Scottish Wildcats, perhaps the only site dedicated to Felis silvestris grampia, the Scottish wildcat, the Scottish wildcat, in an effort to elevate the public's awareness of this species, and to dispel centuries-old profit-driven myths and prejudices.

While Allan is sure certain species of exotic cat exist in the wild in Scotland, he thinks most cat sightings are probably native or domestic animals, or can be explained rationally and scientifically. He regrets that witnesses are treated with the same scepticism and ridicule as Ufologists and Nessie hunters, and that the media concentrate on the more sensational and scare-mongering aspects of the subject.

He lists his other interests as wildlife photography, bass playing, and riding Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Allan can be contacted at allamo@scottishwildcats.co.uk.

Ralph Barnett

Ralph is a senior reporter with the Dundee-based Courier and Evening Telegraph, with 20-odd years experience in journalism.

After about 10 years living in the big cat hotspot of Cupar, Fife, he has moved to Angus, where there are also frequent sightings.

His own close encounter with a large, unidentified feline with the remains of a roe deer in June 2001 (see photo/video evidence section) overcame his professional scepticism and brought him into contact with Scottish Big Cats, where he has remained as an enthusiastic investigator.

As a former TA infantry NCO with The Black Watch, Ralph has an extensive knowledge of fieldcraft, camouflage techniques and rough terrain observation.
He is also interested in hillwalking/climbing and in wildlife/environment conservation. Ralph's other passions are motorcycling, the music of Neil Young, decent red wine and raising funds for good causes by risking his neck abseiling down tall buildings and diving with sharks.

He has little time for hypocrits, warmongers or those whose enjoyment of the countryside is based on killing things.

Contact Ralph on 07743 763705 or via the Scottish Big Cat Trust.

Mick Orsi

Mick Orsi joined the Scottish Big Cats Trust in August 2002.

Mick is a vet dealing with exotics and wildlife as well as domestic animals.

He has been following the non-native cat situation for many years and has carried out post mortems on kills and spoken to several eye witnesses as well as researching the natural history of exotic and indigenous cat species.

Mick can be contacted at mickweasel@yahoo.co.uk.

Exmoor the Bobcat

Pictured here, is the team's recently inducted mascot, Exmoor, the American Lynx.

Also known as the Red Lynx, Bay Lynx, and Bobcat, Exmoor was rescued from the wild by Ben Willis when she was a kitten of only a few weeks old. Now, at three years old, she has assumed the life of a domestic farm cat with the additional luxuries of supermarket meat, veterinary care, and heat and air-conditioning. She now spends her days with Panther, a very large black domestic, and a Prairie Dog, a pet rodent who fancies himself as a canine.

Named after the famous "Beast of Exmoor", Exmoor the bobcat is the Scottish Big Cat Trust's Research Associate and she assists them in providing foot-prints, claw-marks, and an overall wild cat perspective in searching for her elusive cousins which the team believe inhabit the United Kingdom."

Here is a larger image of Exmoor. Also images of Exmoor and Panther and of Exmoor having a snooze and giving a helping paw to her friend the Prairie dog (now sadly deceased).

Baxter the Maine Coon

Frustrated at having to make do with examining kills and hearing of other people's sightings Fran Lockhart bought herself her own Big Cat of sorts in the form of Baxter, a Maine Coon.