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BRITISH BIG CAT TALES :. |
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BEAST OF INVERCLYDE LIKELY A PANTHER |
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Update
I was intrigued by the latest report of a big cat near Wemyss Bay — a phenomenon I have been interested in for several years.
However, your report on 15 December suggests the sighting by Dougie Henry resembled a puma. Pumas are a sandy-coloured native American big cat — the black colouring suggests a panther, the black variant of the leopard. This would match other reports from the area and, indeed, the dozens of reports recently from other areas of the country.
Incidentally, people who spot these big cats are sometimes surprised they are relatively small compared to, for example, lions.
A fully-grown leopard or panther stands only two feet at the shoulder with a total length — including a surprisingly long tail — of around five feet. Nonetheless, they are very powerful animals, easily capable of killing a sheep. The kills are characteristic, death being caused by a bite through the vertebrae of the neck or strangulation with a throat bite, and the cat often eats vital organs such as the liver before eating the flesh.
Instead of tearing roughly at the flesh like a dog, a big cat can ‘clean’ the bones of flesh with its extremely rough tongue. It will return to a carcass many times until it is consumed. Because big cats have retractable claws, the paw prints in soft ground show the pad and four toes, without claws showing, unlike dog tracks.
Anyone wishing to know more about sightings of big cats in the UK can log on to www.scottishbigcats.co.uk, where the news sections show just how many sightings there are every year.
MARK WILLIAMS
(Original headline: claws encounter of the furred kind )
.:Story originally published by:.
Greenock Telegraph / Scotland - Dec 28.07
A Greenock man claims he has seen Inverclyde’s infamous big cat.
Dougie Henry was driving to Largs on Sunday morning when he says the Beast of Inverclyde ran out in front of his car.
The 63-year-old says he is ‘honoured’ to have seen the legendary animal with his own eyes.
He said: “I spotted it when I was driving to Largs on Sunday at around 9.30am. We were just before the cut-off to the shops in Wemyss Bay, at the slip road for the power station, and this big cat ran out and across the road.
“We must have been about 100 yards away from it. It was about two or three feet long and bounded across the road. It was jet black. It didn’t run like a normal domestic cat would, and it didn’t run like a dog. It bounded like the big cats you see on the television.”
Dougie is well-known across Inverclyde for his work with the Greenock Players.
He says he is usually a sceptic but is now convinced the Beast of Inverclyde, regularly spotted around Kilmacolm, exists. He said: “I am so glad my wife Irene was there and that she saw it as well. It was far too big to be a domestic cat.
“It ran from the left of the road and disappeared down to the right. I couldn’t believe I had seen it and Irene was just as amazed as I was.
“I think it could be the one that has been spotted in the Kilmacolm area because they can travel for miles in search of food.
“I have got a questioning mind but I am convinced now and I feel honoured to have seen it.”
Over the past few years, there have been numerous sightings of a puma-like animal around Inverclyde and people in Kilmacolm have even set up their own Big Cat Sighting Network to log all reports of the beasts.
(Original headline: claws encounter of the furred kind )
.:Story originally published by:.
Greenock Telegraph / Scotland | Lorna Campbell - Dec 15.07
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