Conclusion

This chapter challenged the hypothesis presented in existing academic accounts (e.g. Buller 2009) that the feral big cat phenomenon in the UK is largely an urban fantasy stimulated by a crisis in ontological security. According to such a view, an external wild nature that had always provided shape and definition to civil sensibilities and society has been steadily eroded, leaving people confused and disorientated. The recovery of wildness through the continuing presence of potentially dangerous big cats offered the possibility of redemption, a return to the true order of the world where humanity was once again checked and balanced by nature. This thesis draws on the very widespread enthusiasm for wildness, wilderness and the re-wilding of environments in modern nations around the world, as well as on the notion of deep historic pasts, inhabited by monsters and beasts. It offers a feasible account of big cat sightings as mythic rather than true and as belonging to urban rather than rural cultures. I have argued that this thesis has many flaws. Taking evidence mostly from

town-and city-based local newspaper reports (Buller 2004; 2009; Monbiot 2013) results in an urban bias, which, as has been shown, is not reflected in the true pattern of sightings, reported or otherwise. In fact, this pattern shows very intense concentrations in remote and rural parts of England that would not fit the urban thesis or a more generalised pan-British ‘fantasy’ thesis (if the same sentiments might be claimed for the entire population). Further, such an argument fails to consider why the UK has been largely unenthusiastic towards re-wilding policies involving its own indigenous large carnivores such as wolves, bears or lynx, thus casting some considerable doubt as to why nonindigenous animals from South America, Africa, or North America might be deemed more relevant or acceptable. There are other possible explanations that better fit the evidence, particularly

the historical precedent for non-endemic big cat ownership in rural areas. Indeed, the re-wilding thesis overlooks Britain’s historical status as an imperial culture and in particular, the tendency of the landed gentry to add or collect ‘exotic’ cultural and natural elements as part of their social identity. The thesis also downplays or ignores the narratives surrounding how they potentially became embedded in the English countryside, initially as parts of menageries and then as escapees or releases. There is no doubt that a trickle of escapees would have been a feature of such private collections, as would releases during times of hardship and in the 1970s following new legislation related to keeping such animals in captivity (see also Hurn 2009). The chapter reported on fieldwork conducted in two very different rural

localities where there was elevated and spatially concentrated reporting of big

cat sightings (in addition to a large number of unreported sightings which only became apparent during the course of empirical research). These places were characterised by their proximity to environments suitable for mediumto-large non-endemic cats such as lynx or leopards and a local history of their presence there. Most local people encountered in these places had direct experience or sightings of big cats themselves or had encountered these animals indirectly through family and friendship networks. Their presence was mostly regarded as a reality and not particularly remarkable, to the point where many encounters were not reported to the authorities, but they certainly were not regarded with any great enthusiasm. Predictably, for cultures and individuals with instrumental and less romantic views of the countryside, practical matters weighed most heavily when it came to attributing meaning to sightings, with the balance of opinion erring on the side of inconvenience and risk. Since livestock were believed to be attacked, companion animals were thought to be at risk, and incomes made from tourism might also be threatened by the presence of large predators, reporting to authorities, active big cat enthusiasts and the media made little sense. Reading between the lines, I felt these individuals wanted to manage big cats, if they ever came across them, in their own way. Hence, subsequent research might find rural under-reporting in addition to urban over-reporting. However, meanings and actions are always likely to be locally contingent with no overarching national response In this volume and in a previous publication Hurn (2009) reports evidence

of sightings from Ceredigion, Wales. In remote West Wales ‘sightings seemed to be rather common’ and her case study suggests an entirely different reason why rural people may view big cats positively. In this context the positive identities ascribed to big cats derived from their identification as a symbol of resistance and liberation for the local Welsh community against historical and contemporary interference from outsiders (especially the English) and a natural antidote to an unwanted animal that was associated with those human outsiders: the fox. Hurn suggests that the meanings of big cat experiences are socially con-

tingent and symptomatic of the wider historical and social milieu of the localities into which big cats enter (or are seen). Her analysis reminds us that in matters of ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ meanings are rarely shared in the manner suggested by Buller’s grand (and essentialist) narratives of urban/ domestic versus rural/wild imaginaries. Rather, as McNaughton and Urry (1998) observe, they typically hinge on locally specific, contested natures and social conflict. More work remains to be done but the results of this preliminary fieldwork

undermine the commonly held ‘mythical’ view of the big cat phenomenon in the UK. They do not prove the existence of big cats so much as cast doubt on their purely imagined existence. There may be a very small number of them but it would only take a very small number to create an enormous cultural presence. Following Hurn (2009) this chapter suggests that views about big cat sightings are likely to depend very much on the contingent way they