Big cat or oversized moggy? Filmmakers uncover trail cam photo of possible 'pumapard' in British countryside

Filmmakers believe a fresh trail camera photo may have solved an age-old cryptozoological mystery - whether there are big cats roaming the British countryside.

The photo, taken in 2013, has been unearthed by makers of the new documentary Panthera Britannia Declassified. It has experts split, with some thinking the mystery feline is a typical pet moggy, while others believe it may be a rare 'pumapard' - a hybrid between a puma and a leopard.

The cat was snapped in the Kent countryside. Professor Andrew Hemmings, of the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, told SWNS the animal's dimensions suggest it is not a domestic cat. “The developed neck musculature and curvature of the tail both suggest something other than Felis Catus," he said.

“Scaling is difficult but this does not appear to be of adult leopard size," Professor Hemmings continued. "It is however entirely plausible that populations of leopard-sized felids could have become smaller over multiple generations, maybe in response to natural genetic selection imposed by a prey-base of smaller animals such as rabbits."

Appearing in the documentary, expert animal tracker Rhoda Watkins, speculates the trail camera footage could possibly be a "pumapard".

Sarah Hartwell, owner of cat genetics and history website MessyBeast added: ''The puma and leopard hybrids were smaller than either parent, but most seemed to have died as juveniles so we don't know their final size.

“The ear shape is the big giveaway. Big cats all have rounded ears," she said. ''Domestics, and their relatives in the Lybica family, have triangular ears - wide at the base and narrowing at the tip.”

A pumapard is a hybrid of a cougar - also known as a puma or mountain lion - and a leopard. They have previously been born in captivity, with both male cougar with female leopard and male leopard with female cougar pairings producing offspring. In general, these hybrid species are more likely to exhibit dwarfism.

One of the theories behind the persistent belief that there are big cats on the prowl in Britain is their forefathers arrived during the unregulated exotic pet trade, of the last days of the Empire. Leopards were imported from Africa and Asia and pumas or cougars from the Americas, and some believe both species were released into the countryside.

Kent local Kevin Steele, who runs the Real Big Cats in Kent Facebook group, told SWNS there had been numerous sightings of big cats in Kent going back decades. “I know the location where the photo was taken and sightings are reported from that area quite often."

The documentary Panthera Britannia Declassified, by Dragonfly Films, is available to buy and rent on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Google TV.