The Role of DEFRA

I sent a letter to DEFRA asking them what they were doing to protect the public from possible big cat attacks. I also asked them what they were doing to help the farmers who are loosing large amounts of livestock to the big cats.
This is their reply:

Thank you for your letter of 11 September. This department's interest in big cats is in relation to the safety of livestock. The department is aware that there have been an increasing number of reports of the presence of big cats living wild in the country and that these reports are often associated with attacks on livestock. The departments approach is to ask the Wildlife Management Team, the departments wildlife advisers, to investigate individual reports of suspicious livestock deaths. None of the cases investigated so far have provided any evidence to support claims that a big cat was involved. However, the department will continue to investigate all genuine reports where big cats are alleged to be causing agricultural damage.

Any danger to human life is the responsibility of the Home Office and the police and if members of the public come across a big cat in the wild they should report it to the police. The local authority should also be notified so that they can investigate whether the animal escaped from a zoo etc.

'Suspicious livestock deaths'. If big cats are not responsible then what is?
I will keep you informed of the answer to that question.