Big cat sighted on road

Aug 14 2009 by James Monaghan, Dumfries Standard Friday

A DUMFRIES lorry driver was left shocked after seeing a large black cat crossing a busy road in the town last weekend.

Mark Reid, aged 26, of Calside Road spotted the “great big black cat” at 5.15am on Saturday morning, crossing the Lockerbie Road near the Eco-Deco plant.

He said: “I was driving along and it ran out about 50 yards in front of me, obviously I was quite shocked.”

Mark’s sighting is one of many in the region over the last few years.

In 2007, a dark tan coloured creature was reported to have been spotted near the B7079 junction with a minor road near Newton Stewart.

The cat, allegedly three-foot-tall, was seen by Christine Smith as she was travelling in a north westerly direction towards the town.

In 2005, John Irving and two friends saw a grey cat with black markings, pointed ears and a stripy tail, near Annan.

John said: “That beast was scary.

“It walked down a public footpath before clearing a six-foot hedge.”

Two years before that, a motorist sparked a police hunt for a “big cat” in Dumfries.

The woman reported seeing the puma-like black cat in the area of the Cuckoo Bridge roundabout.

Mark Fraser, founder of the Scottish Big Cat Society said at the time: “Dumfries and Galloway has been a hot spot for big cat sightings for many years.

“There was a spate of sightings in Dumfries and Galloway in the 90s.

“There were sightings in the Thornhill area a few years ago when people reported seeing a dark grey coloured animal about the size of a collie dog, with a short tail.

“Cats have been seen in Castle Douglas, Thornhill and Annan.

But Shaun Stevens, of the organisation Big Cats In Britain, said: “The chances of them being harmful are very slim.

“Mostly the cat will just look at the person and walk off, they just aren’t really interested in us.”

“The only way that they would usually become dangerous is if they are cornered or they are put in a position where they need to protect their cubs.”

Mr Stevens also said that, from Mark’s description, it is most likely that he seen was a feral cat, although there have been sightings of pumas, lynxes and black leopards up and down the country.