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BRITISH BIG CAT TALES :. |
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MORE WITNESSES TO SCOTTISH BIG CAT SIGHTING |
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Sightings of a big cat on the outskirts of Rafford which were revealed in last week's "Forres Gazette" prompted two other witnesses to come forward who had seen a similar animal in fields nearby.
One of them was local runner Dave McRobie, who saw what he thinks was the same animal, or one very like it, about 10 years ago.
"I was running down the hill by Newforres quarry when I saw this animal skirting the field at the fence on my right," he said.
"Then about 50 metres in front of me it just loped across the road."
He said that it was "unmistakable as a large cat" which then disappeared up into the trees by the quarry.
"It was the size of a large Labrador dog, black and muscular, with a long, curved tail," he said.
"It was quite a shock and I stopped running right there – I didn't know whether to try and follow on for a better look or get myself well away from such a beastie."
He said the animal track where it left the road can still be seen opposite the line of the field edge, where deer or foxes still cross the road.
Mr McRobie said he knows, from speaking to people over the years, that there have been similar local sightings of a big black cat, some in recent years.
Forres shop owner Harry Younie told the "Forres Gazette" that he had spotted the animal from his back garden at the top of St Leonards Road, several years ago in fields behind his house near Wrights Hill.
He said he was so "gobsmacked" by what he had seen that he was rooted to the spot while he watched the animal lope across the field, sit down next to a telegraph pole and then just get back up and walk back off again.
"It was unmistakable as a big cat," he said.
"I have two black Labradors and it was probably the same size as the smaller one. But it wasn't pure black, it was a bit lighter."
Mr Younie said that it had a long tail and was definitely a big cat, which was borne out about its movement and gait, and its unhurried movement.
"I was torn between going to get my neighbour to tell him or watching it," he said.
"By the time I moved to go it just turned around and walked back off again, then it bounded off across the bushes."
Mr Younie said that he walks his dogs, as do a lot of other people, on the spot at Wrights Hill where he spotted the cat.
"It is always at the back of my mind," he said.
"I suppose it must exist on rabbits and maybe the odd lamb. I don't suppose a farmer would necessarily notice if a very young one went missing."
He said from speaking to friends, including another Forres businessman, he knows that there have been other sightings of the thing near Rafford and the quarry area.
In last week's edition, "Gazette" receptionist Frances Murray revealed how she had seen a big black cat, which she described as longer and with more muscle than a Labrador, on the edge of a field near Mannachie at least 20 years ago, before there was a housing development there.
There was also a sighting on the Grantown road in October, 2003, and about a month ago, a Forres woman reported seeing the cat at the Dallas turn-off a couple of miles outside Rafford.
(Original headline: Big cat story stirs memories of previous sightings )
.:Story originally published by:.
Forres Gazette / Scotland - Apr 11.07
A sighting of a big black cat in the Forres area has reignited debate about whether a wild animal is roaming the area.
There were several similar sightings about 20 years ago at various locations around the town, many of them recorded in 'The Forres Gazette' at the time.
More recently, a local woman who was returning from visiting friends in Dallas a few weeks ago spotted an unusual creature from her car, very close to the road.
The woman, who does not want to be named for fear of ridicule, saw the animal near the Dallas turn-off on the outskirts of Rafford. She told her husband, who said that at first he thought she had been seeing things.
"She was trying to rule out what it wasn't," he said. "I said it must have been a deer, as I have seen them there myself, but she said it wasn't a deer, and it wasn't a dog or a cow or a horse either, but it looked like a big cat. My son was in the car, and he saw it too."
He said that although the daylight was fading, his wife was able to describe the animal as a "big cat which was dark in colour".
He said that he had treated it as a bit of a joke, but his wife was certain about what she had seen.
One of several sightings of a big cat around the Forres area about 20 years ago was reported by 'Gazette' receptionist Francis Murray, who was out walking with her son, Andrew, near the Mannachie area.
"Andrew was a toddler, and he is 24 now," she said.
"He was toddling along beside me when I saw the thing near Mannachie, long before there were any houses there, and it was all just fields."
She added: "A lot of people had reported seeing this thing around Forres, but I was really surprised when I saw it walking up the edge of the field."
She got a clear look at the creature, and described it as a well-built black cat.
"At first I thought it must be a black Labrador, which would have been more likely, but it was bigger and too long in the body, and its ears were back," she said.
After studying footage of a recent big cat sighting in the Banff area, on the Banffshire Journal website, Ms Murray said it wasn't unlike what she remembered seeing all those years ago.
The CFZ Alien Big Cat Study Group, which charts sightings on the Internet, has instances of big cat sightings – some with pictures – throughout the UK, including an entry from a motorist who claims to have seen a black cat on the Grantown Road in the winter of 2003.
His entry was recorded on October 19, the day after he claimed to have spotted the creature while driving south on the road between Forres and Carrbridge.
"The road has a steep embankment of silver birch trees on the right and pine forest on the left," said the unknown author.
"I see a lot of wonderful wildlife in this area, including deer, and it is a joy to experience. Yesterday, around 9am, I saw something I have never seen before. From a distance of under 200 yards, a very large black cat with an unusual gait crossed the road from my right to left. By the time I reached the spot, it had vanished. This was not a domestic cat or a dog. It was walking quickly. I have not reported this to the police yet because I know what their response will probably be. This big cat was so distinctive and unusual that I want to know more about what it might be and whether you believe I should report it. My daughter tells me there have been previous reports of 'the Moray Cat', but I don't know where."
SSPCA inspector, Scott Elphinstone, said it was not outwith the realm of possibility that big cats could live wild in the area, feeding off game such as rabbits.
"Since I have been here, there have been quite a few sightings around the Moray area and Aberdeenshire," he said. "I'm sure that not all of them are right, but there does seem to be something."
He said that it would "make sense" that sightings had been reported all around the area, with experts suggesting that a big cat can have a hunting ground with a radius of 60 miles.
"It really makes you wonder," he said.
"The animals could probably survive in the wild by getting prey such as rabbits to keep them going."
(Original headline: Sighting fuels big cat debate in Moray )
.:Story originally published by:.
Forres Gazette / Scotland - Apr 04.07
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