There are times when I wonder what is going on in
my tiny little country. Now is one of them – not only has the entire government
lost their collective minds (if indeed they have ever had them) – but the
nature has lost its as well, even the cryptozoological ones. First there was
the wolves, then there was the golden jackal, and now it seems we have to
consider the puma as well.
Not that alien big cats are a completely unknown
entity in Denmark, far from it, but this new case seems to take the biscuit as
it were (cat biscuit perhaps). In the last couple of weeks people in northern
Germany, specifically in the area north of the town of Flensburg, have claimed
several sightings of a big brownish cat with a small head, a long tail and
rather short fat legs, in other words a puma. German police have been out
looking for the thing on several occasions, but have as yet not found anything –
one do get the impression though, that they are not taking the whole thing to
seriously (yes, they do have a sense of humour!).
Nevertheless, seen from the Danish side of the
border, it is fairly interesting, not the least because several of the
eyewitnesses have seen the animal almost at the border, and in two cases actually
coming from Denmark and moving towards Germany.
It is in areas like this in Northern Germany and Southern Denmark, the alleged puma is running around.
An escaped animal no doubt, but from where – and in
actual fact, how many – because not long after this story broke in the
newspapers, Danish eyewitnesses started coming out of the woodwork or wherever
these people are hiding, and telling me about several sightings in the same
area in 2014 (and in 2013, 2012, 2010 and 2008 if the stories in my files are
anything to go by).
Unfortunately the scaremongers crawled forth as
well from whatever rock they usually hide under (one of them sadly the director
of one of the biggest zoological gardens in Denmark) and started screaming at
the top of their lungs about what a dangerous animal a puma was (try telling
that to the millions of people in North- and South America who live quite
happily along side pumas, in many cases without ever knowing it). All we need
now is some local hick politician wanting to arrange a hunt to protect women
and children from the fearsome predator.
I for one would suggest a couple of deep breaths
and a calming something. First of all, it can well be a puma, in that case no
doubt an escapee from some idiot who has kept it as a pet in his garage, or
from some small animal park somewhere, who is afraid to admit that they have
lost one of their animals fearing damage responsibility and what have you.
But – it may not be anything at all. People are so
easily led to believe things, to see things, to hear things, just because they
have read a scary story in a newspaper somewhere. Some years ago I was called
in to have a look at a lion that had
been lying out in a field for several days. Everybody in the area had worked
themselves up to borderline hysteria, but hadn’t called in the police because
they feared ridicule. In hindsight that was a good idea, because it turned out
the lion was a very large brown paperbag. But everybody was so convinced it was
a lion, that even people with binoculars saw nothing but a lion, when they
looked at the thing. Myself, and a friend I brought with me, recognized the
paperback at once because we were not as completely worked up as the local
people.
As for this new puma, there are no pictures so
far, apart from one taken with an old mobilephone from such a long distance it
could be anything – and no domesticated animal has been killed, as far as
anyone knows. All I need is a hair!!!
.JPG)
