Report from Chris Smith
Big Cat could be a rotweiller
From the Aberdeen Press and Journal, January 1996
Traps are being set by two landowners in the neighbouring Garioch and Gordon regions, North of Banchory, following numerous reports of a large, black animal in and around the Midmar and Bennacie Forests. Ric Wharton of Midmar Castle, near Echt, decided to try and trap the beast after finding 4-inch wide prints on his land. Photographs of the prints were examined by Haans Kruuk, of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, who said: "They are certainly the prints of a large dog."
Christopher Burgess-Lumsden of Pitcaple Castle, believes a panther-like predator was responsible for killing three of his lambs. He has set a large trap in an attempt to catch the "big animal, black but with brindle marks, and a large bushy tail" which he saw in January.
Joanna Davidson, of Braeside Equestrian Centre, has been warning riders to avoid Durno Forest, which borders Bennachie Forest, after a similar animal was seen eating a carcass on a woodland track. She believes that the animal could be a feral dog - a black Rottweiler puppy was lost in the area several years ago. She said: "It would be between four and five years old, and a massive beast. Its tail had not been docked, so it could pass for a different kind of animal altogether, and the continuing reports have varied between a big cat and a big dog."
January 1996
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