MOD Police Officer Chris Swallow could not believe his eyes when he saw a giant cat on a rail track near Helensburgh, Argyll. He immediately took footage on his mobile phone while a friend took still photographs. The video was released in July, but Big Cats in Britain had the footage in their possession for two weeks before this. Initial analysis shows this to be a very large animal indeed, and definitely feline. Shaun Stevens of BCIB said: ‘After size investigations, the body is at least 3.5 feet in length, which does not include the long tail. This is one of the best pieces of footage to come out of Scotland.’ Meanwhile in Ayrshire the police launched a hunt for an animal, believed by them to be a big cat, that caused severe injuries to a horse near the Sundrum Holiday Park near Coylton. Photographs have also come from Aberdeenshire, Cornwall and Lincolnshire, prints from the Cannock Chase, Northampton, Aberdeenshire, and DNA samples from Wales are currently undergoing testing; in fact this has been a bumper month for reports coming into BCIB, far more than usual, ending with a vigil in a big cat hot spot at the end of the month in Leicestershire. (Source: Shaun Stevens, Big Cats in Britain, Simon King and PC Chris Swallow).

Other articles you may be interested in: