Closet yet big cat sighting in West Sussex/pictures

The above 2 photos of a big cat in West Sussex( copyright Carol Cowley all rights reserved)taken by Carol Cowley at a sighting recently have stirred up controversy amongst the big cat research world.Inherant sceptism is a necessary trait in this game with each separate shred of evidence subject to intense scrutiny.I am the first to admit that the first picture has some of the appearances of being a dog were it not for the fact that the tail length obviously belongs to no known canine breed,the ears too are exactly the shape quoted by most of the big cat sighting witnesses in being more rounded than pointed.The hang of the right paw also looks a bit cat like to me.All this being said,if i was presented with these pictures and didn,t know the history behind this ongoing investigation conducted by Carol Cowley and myself and took them as being the sole piece of evidence i too would err on the side of caution and might be tempted to proclaim them as being photos of a dog,albeit a strange one at that and i might also explain the cat-like features as being mere tricks of the light and not the real deal so to speak.

In fact,any evidence cannot be looked at in isolation, think,but has to be part of a whole series of different perspectives on other things too like was the sighting/photo in an area where big cat activity has taken place?15 sightings from multiple witnesses this year alone.This cat in fact has been studied intensely over the last 3 years and probably a lot more if it,s as old as we think it is.Was it doing what would of been expected of it?A handful of occasions were when the cat was not disturbed immediatly and was observed doing just this thing that is just poking and possibly sniffing about which is what cats do.Was there any other evidence?Well,not on this occasion but on others and at nearby locations paw prints,deer,fox,badger and bird carcases attributed as big cat kills were found and out of the deer, fallow carcases which can only be pulled down by a very big cat,all this has been published on these blogs and the website.A final question would be on the integrity of the witness,in other words was it a hoax?Carol Cowley has produced several pictures now of this big cat all taken with her little compact camera one of which especially has been published in a forthcoming book on big cats by the acclaimed West Country based author Rick Minter and has been verified as being a photo of a big cat by various other researchers up and down the country.Her other work has produced the only deer carcase attributed to a big cat this year as well as investigating numerous sightings and uncovering information of immense value to gleaning knowledge of big cat behaviour.

Here i have offered a little background material to back up these pictures for public scrutiny however it,s not my intention to convince anyone of whether these pictures are genuine or for that matter any other big cat pics nor any other evidence produced.Everyone is entitled to their opinion.If anything,all material is published for public information only though it has to be said the agenda is to prove how essential big cats are to the natural balance of things and seek only to avoid conflict with humans.Scrutiny is valued however to offset home-spun conclusions which can spin off onto tangents too wild to be even plausible.So,given what i,ve mentioned here the above pics appear to me to be very much the real deal,taken obviously,not in isolation.....