An elusive big cat said to roam the Fife countryside has been spotted again.
Cupar woman Susan Low saw what she believes to be a black puma-like animal in North East Fife on Friday night.
Mrs Low, of Sandylands Road, was walking her border collie dog in Cupar at around 11.30pm when she saw a large feline creature running across the local school playground, close to the edge of town.
It comes weeks after a ‘big cat’ was also apparently spotted a few miles away over the hill near Ceres and follows years of sightings around the country.
Mrs Low told The Courier: ”I was walking my dog near the cemetery and I happened to glance over. I saw a huge black cat leaping from the Ceres end of the playground at Castlehill Primary School and running very fast towards the town end.
”It was definitely bigger than a normal cat and looked to me like a black puma.”
Mrs Low said she had read about various sightings across Fife and beyond over the years but was ”taken aback” to see something for herself particularly when she regularly walks her dog at night when few other people are about.
She added: ”It unnerved me a bit. A neighbour told me that some carcasses were found in the woods up towards Ceres (the Moor Road) a few years back. I wonder if anyone else has seen anything.”
Fife Police said they had not received any reports of a big cat sighting on Friday night, and Fife Council confirmed the Castlehill Primary head teacher or janitor had received no reports.
Retired Fife police officer George Redpath first started investigating big cat sightings while serving with Fife Constabulary in the early 1990s. Since retiring in 1999 he still gets messages from Fife Police and the SSPCA and has investigated hundreds of cases in Fife.
He told The Courier: ”I am utterly convinced that there are big cats roaming the countryside. The best evidence I’ve got is footprints and I was contacted by a farmer whose cow had been attacked in North East Fife last year. Nothing else could have been responsible there were two rake marks down the side of its body and a huge bite mark.
“There have been more and more attacks in America with houses getting built in more remote areas which encroach into cat territories. If this woman has seen a puma then they are quite curious creatures. They generally try to keep out of sight.
“But a black puma would be quite rare. If it’s black it’s more likely to be a leopard. You certainly have to keep an open mind with these things.”
George would like to hear from anyone who has seen recent sightings. He can be contacted on 01334 870026.Latest in a long line of sightingsNumerous sightings of big cats have been reported over the years, most notably in 2006 when Fife Constabulary believed they had found the first conclusive proof of a big cat known locally as the ”Beast of Balbirnie.”
Officers produced a cast of a paw print which experts said might have been from an 18-month-old big cat, but sceptics argued it could have been from a large dog.
Since then, there have been various sightings including at Letham, Bishop Hill, between Glenrothes and Kinross and the Blairadam area of Kelty.
Big Cats in Britain’s Fife representative Bob Wallace has been regularly contacted by people reporting to have seen large cats throughout Fife and the descriptions are always the same black with long thick tails, rounded ears, four to five feet in length.
Bob is convinced there are large wild cats prowling the area.
Visit www.bigcatsinbritain.org