Scottish town ‘stalked by wild panther’
A town in the Scottish Highlands is reportedly being stalked by a wild panther.
Grantown-on-Spey became the epicenter of a new big cat mystery when John Kirk spotted a large black beast while driving into town with his wife on April 17 and went public with his claim by posting a report on Facebook – and has since been overwhelmed with responses from other concerned residents who claim to have seen a big cat on the loose.
John told the BBC: “We were going to pick up the grandchildren from a friend’s house. We came out of the roundabout, headed towards Grantown and headed towards the cemetery. “And something flashed along the road at great speed.
“And I thought, ‘It’s a cat.’ I turned to my wife and said: ‘Did you see anything there?’ He said: ‘Yes, but it wasn’t a deer. “He was like a cat.”
“It was bigger than my collie. About two feet high, with a long tail. It was definitely a cat.”
John revealed that he was amazed by the reactions he received after going public with the sighting.
He said: “I put it on Facebook just to see what kind of crack it could be and see if anyone else had seen it.
“And the response has been absolutely incredible. There are a lot of people around town who have seen it, and I personally know people who have seen it.”
John admitted that this was not the first time he had seen a big cat in the area, explaining that he experienced a similar sight about 25 years ago when he saw another large black cat crossing the road.
He said: “I saw one about 25 years ago. It was on the road and it was a panther. It was a black panther crossing the road.”
Paul Macdonald set up the Scottish Big Cat Research Team in 2017 to investigate the sightings after seeing a big cat himself in the 1980s.
The group claims to have mapped 1,800 sightings dating back to 1947 and told the BBC that rumors of big cats running loose in the UK can be traced back decades, reaching a high point in the mid-1970s following the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act, which banned anyone from owning big cats without a proper licence, prompting many cat owners to release their animals to avoid being euthanised.
Paul explained: “Some of the old origin stories of private zoos and collections of exotic species date back to the 19th century. This has never quite gone away when it comes to large estates and those with money and means.”
“But there was a flashpoint for this activity throughout the UK in 1976, and that was the introduction of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act…
“The law gave owners only two options – either buy the license and then ensure your animal is kept in a minimum size enclosure, which obviously comes at a significant cost.
“Or bring your animal and put it to bed. Many people have a third option, taking them somewhere green enough and letting them go.”
