Mystery ‘big cat’ spotted by woman

Leopard-like creature ‘on prowl by main road’

By Ryan Crighton

Published:

A leopard-like big cat has been spotted near a north-east village thought to be a favourite haunt of the ever-elusive Beast of Buchan.

Aberdeen woman Lynne McIntyre was driving out of Cruden Bay, near Peterhead, at 2am on Saturday when she saw a large animal sitting beside the road.

The 42-year-old, who owns the Exquisite Designs clothing boutique in Rose Street in Aberdeen, said she could not believe her eyes as she drove along the A975, which links Cruden Bay to the A90 Peterhead to Ellon road.

“It was about three times the size of a domestic cat and it looked like it was prowling, because it did not look up at me as I drove past,” she said.

“When I got home I looked at big cats on the internet and it looked most like a clouded leopard, although I know it couldn’t have been that.

“However, it was a rusty brown colour and it definitely had black spots.”

Big cat investigators on the trail of the Beast of Buchan have been bolstered by a growing number of possible sightings in recent months.

The mysterious creature, said to be as big as a puma, was seen three times within a week in August.

All of the sightings have been within a few miles of each other, just west of Fraserburgh.

It was first seen at around 9pm on Friday, August 22, by Sandhaven woman Fiona Clark, who was getting a lift home after visiting a friend at Pitullie, on the Buchan coast.

By coincidence, a family friend later told her a similar creature had been seen lurking in trees near the church- yard at Tyrie Castle on Saturday morning.

The cat had been seen later that day near Peathill, south of Rosehearty.

Although the legendary animal has been seen several times over the years, it is unusual to have so many reported sightings in such a short time.

The last sighting prior to the Fraserburgh incidents was at Cruden Bay in the summer of 2007, when a black animal was seen prowling through a wood.

A year earlier, farmer Jim Cantlay, of Nether Broadmuir Farm, near the coastal Buchan village, discovered the remains of savaged sheep – thought to be the work of the beast.

Between 2000 and 2006, there have been nearly 200 sightings of big cats reported by the public to Scottish police forces.

Grampian was the most active with 55 reports, followed by Fife with 42.

Other hotspots include Lothian with 30 sightings and 27 in Strathclyde.