Tim Whittard, the producer of the documentary for Dragonfly Films, said: “This astonishing lost photograph and astonishing new scientific discovery form only a fraction of the collective evidence shown on film.
“The research process for this sample was intensive and exhaustive, taking us thousands of hours in various archives, libraries, museums and laboratories, as well as in the field and meeting hundreds of eyewitnesses.”
He added: “The story is really sad – these majestic big cats could be legally owned without a license in the UK until 1976 and were hugely popular, being seen as fashionable status symbols at the time.
“When the laws governing the ownership of exotic animals changed, many people released their big cats into the wild. Basically, the animals that people see today are the descendants of abandoned pets for the most part.”
In the documentary, the photograph is analyzed by experts to prove its authenticity, and the lighting of the image raises suspicions. The tests are not conclusive.
Cliff Barackman, an American Big Foot devotee, isn’t convinced by the photo, arguing in the Amazon documentary that an apex predator, seen staring into the distance in the image, wouldn’t actually take its eyes off a nearby photographer.
