Report from Chris Smith
Beast of Balmoral blunder
From the Daily Mail, 15 th December 1997
A gamekeeper gunning for the Beast of Balmoral killed a local churchman's cat, police believe.
The tortoiseshell belonging to Rev Robert Sloan, minister in the Craithie Village where the Queen worships when in Scotland, was shot as it dashed into the gamekeeper's headlights.
Reports of a black panther like animal near Balmoral have circulated for two years. One villager said locals feared for their pets because of gamekeepers who were trigger happy in the pursuit of the mystery cat.
A spokesman for the Invercauld Estate said the gamekeeper had been reprimanded, ordered to apologise to Mr Sloan and his family, and told to study the difference between domestic and feral cats.
15 th December 1997
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