BCC EP:123 A shot in the dark – green eyes through the snow

Bonus feature - British wolverines?

Our first guest Darren was asked to despatch a troublesome fox in south Wales in 1998. In the snowy conditions he actually saw a puma though his gun sights – he re-lives the high emotions on the winter hillside as bright green eyeshine stared back.  

Rick and Darren also consider the prospects of a big cat  being trapped, and they discuss an event in 2011, when the police and the Home Office verified a plaster cast as from a puma-like big cat.

For our second guest we return to Exmoor Zoo, meeting owner Danny Reynolds. He briefs us on the new female black leopard, Bagheera. She is a lively three year old, who enjoys playful stalking of the visitors and keepers.

Exmoor Zoo also hosts two wolverines, last known in Britain 8,000 years ago, or has this podcast found that they are back somehow?  We discuss some footage which might hold the clues, with some extracted stills on the Big Cat Conversations website. Danny and Rick discuss the traits of wolverines, a big type of mustelid, both in the wild and at the zoo. 

Words of the week:  talon   &   Gulo gulo

26 March 2025