Big Cat Sightings
Date of request: 8 July 2025
Reference: 859-25
Request
Please can I request the following information…
- Within the last 5 years, how many ‘big cat’ sightings have been recorded within the counties of Avon and Somerset? (This would exclude anything regarding ‘domestic[1]size’ cats, with the report potentially mentioning either panther/black leopard, lynx or puma/mountain lion-type sightings/encounters)
o Broken down by month and location if possible.
- Could the approx. location of each sighting please be disclosed, as well as whether an officer followed-up, in-person, on the report – and if there was any outcome to the animal
Response
Avon and Somerset Police holds information on the subject you have requested. However, we will not be able to answer your request without exceeding the appropriate limit. This is because the information is not centrally recorded and would involve an extensive search of our files to find and collate.
There is no specific category of crime, or data entry field on our systems, that would enable us to identify all reports of big cat sightings. Relevant reports may be recorded under a range of incident groups including ASB, Crime, Public Safety/Welfare, or General. All reports recorded in these categories would therefore need to be manually reviewed to identify all and only relevant information. We estimate that this would take far more than 18 hours to complete.
Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for police authorities is set at £450 or 18 staff hours. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days in determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it.
This letter represents a Refusal Notice under the Act.
I am unable to suggest a way in which your request could be refined that would enable us to retrieve all information held in relation to big cat sightings.