another big cat spotted in Scotland

Big cat sighting near Forres

Tanya McLaren

A FORRES woman got the shock of her life after spotting a large black cat bounding down the side of a field as she was passing in her car. Alannah Reaper was on the way back from tending to her horses when she spied the creature, as she was driving past a large open field, just before 5pm last Wednesday night. She was driving about half a mile as the crow flies from the village of Dyke, heading in the direction of A96, approaching the old A96 road.“We got to the last farm at the Banrach,” she said. “I had to pull over to let a car and tractor pass, and while we were sitting in the car waiting for the on coming traffic to pass, next to a large stubble field on my left, I clocked the cat at the side, trotting briskly up the field heading in the direction behind me.” She said the creature went the last few yards and then “bounded” towards the woodlands.“It was clearly visible thanks to the full moon,” she said. “As I was watching it go across the field, I tried to turn the car to shine my headlights on the field to make it more visible for my mum to see, who was sitting in the passenger side, unfortunately it was long gone.” Alannah said that it was the size of good sized dog, but a lot longer and had a distinctive movement not like any dog or deer, and far bigger than the domestic cat.Her sighting is about a mile from where local woman, Jan Munro from Knockomie Rise saw the creature with her friend, Jo Greenwood about two years ago.

Have you seen the cat? Email newdesk@forres-gazette.co.uk.

Full story in this weeks edition: http://www.forres-gazette.co.uk/News/Big-cat-sighting-near-Forres-15112011.htm