View Full Version : Big Cat Spotted In Ulbster
My boyfriend was out walking on Thursday evening in Ulbster with his dog when he spotted what appeared to be a huge cat bigger than an Alsatian dog. It was black in colour. He has no idea what type of cat it was as whenever it moved away he ran. He only got a glimpse of it for a few seconds but whatever it was he doesn't want to meet it again. He reported it to the police and they said there has been a few sightings of big cats in Caithness.
I saw one a few years ago on the wick - thurso road just past bilbster. It was round about this time of year and at first I thought it was a black calf but then it took off across the field and I realised it was a cat from the way it run!! Gave me a gluff and I was in a car!!!! Wouldn't have liked to have come across it on foot
Been sightings for years, i remember my old man having to investigate sightings in the Lybster area around 1977
It gave him a gluff when he saw it. He told his dog to lie down and the cat heard him and stopped not far from him and looked at them both. When it moved away he jumped the fence, got his dog and ran home. He was in a state when he got in the house, very pale and shaking. He had thought it might attack him and the dog. It has made me think twice about walking up there by myself.
we saw one just north of brora - black it was too. by the time we stopped the car it had disappeared.
I spotted this guy but didn't feel in any danger lolhttp://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/spicesices/cute-smiling-cat.jpg
Cute pic ice box :)
My Dad spotted a big cat somehere between Golspie and Brora a few years back, said it was black and slightly bigger than an alsation dog.
Hibeechick
02-Apr-07, 09:17
Saw a large black cat around Pitlochery a couple of years ago. Was driving along and I caught a glimps of it in the side of my eye before it darted out across the road infront of me and a car coming the opposite way. Definitely shook me up for the rest of the drive.
Humerous Vegetable
02-Apr-07, 09:30
This is a bit off-thread, but has anybody got an opinion on re-introducing species to Scotland which have died out (and I don't just mean the legendary Honest Politican here) Apparently there's some guy with an estate in Sutherland who wants to re-introduce wolves, lynx and bears to the wild. In last week's P&J it said where he'd just bought some European Elk from Norway, to come over in the autumn. There were reports a couple of months ago of some beaver which had escaped from captivity in Perthshire and were chewing up trees in peoples' gardens. When I lived in Sussex for a few years, there were some well-established herds(?) of wild boar which used to grub up the vines in a local vineyard on a regular basis. I think it would be great for biodiversity and tourism, but I don't think people would have the tolerence to allow it to develop - look what happened to the Red Kite which has almost been wiped out again up here.
I was travelling North in the car with my family a few years ago and I saw a big black cat sitting in a field just South of Brora - by the time I told everyone else what I'd seen it was gone. A couple of days later there was a report in the paper that a man in a lorry had seen on at the Mound!
porshiepoo
02-Apr-07, 14:22
Haven't seen a big black cat but I did see one of the stripey wildcats.
It was on the road at dusk in the mid clyth area. I was driving home and I saw it trotting down the other side of the road coming toward me. It was about 3 times the size of a normal large housecat - in build and about 2 times the size in height. At first I just thought a big cat but it behaved differently in the way it was trotting and as it jumped over the fence I saw just how huge it was.
Amazing thing to see.
The black cat in the lybster area has been spotted quite recently from what I have heard.
Off topic a tad but we were in the turn off for Dunrobin saw mill the other day and spotted an otter like animal. It wasn't an otter or beaver and was running along the ground, quite big it was too. Any ideas what it could have been?
As for the reintroduction of wolves etc. IMO yes, as long as it is taken seriously with every precaution possible taken (although obviously these things can be a tad hard to predict) and as long as all members of the public in the necessary areas are informed and given the chance to attend info meetings, air their views and are completely involved and kept informed as much as poss.
BMcGillivray
02-Apr-07, 15:17
A friend and i spotted a large black cat several years ago now, just south of Thurso, off to the East of Glengolly near the river/train tracks. We didn't see it laying down on the ground it until we got too close, then it shot off and jumped over a fence, heading south.
_awayoflife_
02-Apr-07, 15:33
i also know someone who saw one couple of years back just past bilbster coming up to haster it walked out infront of the taxi
danc1ngwitch
02-Apr-07, 17:51
I spotted a big cat years ago when i was like young. I was cycling my bike on the road to wick, i saw it cross infront of me on the road, at the bad bend before hastigrow. It was about the size of a spanial dog.
fingalmacool
02-Apr-07, 21:09
I saw one a few years ago on the wick - thurso road just past bilbster. It was round about this time of year and at first I thought it was a black calf but then it took off across the field and I realised it was a cat from the way it run!! Gave me a gluff and I was in a car!!!! Wouldn't have liked to have come across it on foot
Second that, lelebo, fishing one time several years ago around the bilbster area, around the time that the stirks stampede everything on their patch, and spotted a large cat getting the rough end of stampede, i got a good butchers at the cat, at distance, and he or she was in a big hurry to get away. Cat was running in the way of trying to keep its tail tucked away, so it looked kind of funny, but it definitely was no moggy, far too big.
r.rackstraw
03-Apr-07, 23:05
Haven't seen a big black cat but I did see one of the stripey wildcats.
It was on the road at dusk in the mid clyth area. I was driving home and I saw it trotting down the other side of the road coming toward me. It was about 3 times the size of a normal large housecat - in build and about 2 times the size in height. At first I just thought a big cat but it behaved differently in the way it was trotting and as it jumped over the fence I saw just how huge it was.
Amazing thing to see.
The black cat in the lybster area has been spotted quite recently from what I have heard.
Off topic a tad but we were in the turn off for Dunrobin saw mill the other day and spotted an otter like animal. It wasn't an otter or beaver and was running along the ground, quite big it was too. Any ideas what it could have been?
As for the reintroduction of wolves etc. IMO yes, as long as it is taken seriously with every precaution possible taken (although obviously these things can be a tad hard to predict) and as long as all members of the public in the necessary areas are informed and given the chance to attend info meetings, air their views and are completely involved and kept informed as much as poss.
The otter-like animal you saw might have been a Polecat Ferret. Quite a few get killed by traffic.
porshiepoo
04-Apr-07, 11:06
The otter-like animal you saw might have been a Polecat Ferret. Quite a few get killed by traffic.
Well I just googled it (don't know why I didn't think of it before) and I think it was an otter after all.
Too big to be a polecat - which is what I initially said to my husband it was when we saw it.
Definately an otter.
Most people have seen this "cat". rumours like its a panther go around often and i have seen it but only in the distance, quite scary. Was gazing at me and started to make a face and i thought i could see the teeth so i legged it!:lol: . wouldnt want to chance it. Someone needs to get some footage or a group of organized people should go looking for it. and also i doubt its a panther:lol:
We did go back up the hill the next day to see if we could find some paw prints. The only ones we found were about the size of a dogs print but it also had four claw marks. Looked at our dogs prints and they were completely different as they had no claw marks.
Reading this I am minded of "The Beast of Bodmin Moor," there were various rumours that it was a panther but to date no evidence has come to light other than to support that it is a very large ferral cat.
Whilst there might be some stupid people that have released large non native cats to the wild, there has been little or no corroboration of this.
Feral cats can grow to a very large size, upwards of 14lbs (don't ask me what that is in metric,)
The largest I have ever met weighed in at an astonishing 24lbs and when domesticated took up half the sofa!
this cat was also spotted in watten by some1 driving through just neat the shop,hanging about looking dodgy lol
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