Report from Chris Smith
NE Man Comes Within A Whisker Of Giant Cat
By Sally McDonald in the Press and Journal, 29 th July 2002
A pub worker spotted a giant black cat on his way to work.
Inverurie man Ian McDonald today claimed he came face-to-face with a big, black beast at 5.45am yesterday on the town's Blackhall Road.
The sighting was close to Aberdeenshire Council's Gordon House offices.
Cleaner Ian, from Middlepark, said: "It pounced across the road.
"It was so close to me I could have jumped on its back - I was very nervous.
"It was the biggest cat I've ever seen - the size of an Alsatian dog. It was entirely black, with a long tail, sharp ears and a big face with big teeth. It looked ferocious.
"It darted into the bushes. I've never seen anything like it before, not even in a zoo."
But the 54-year-old bachelor and local charity stalwart, who cleans the Butcher's Arms in the town's West High Street, admitted: "The regulars are giving me a fair bit of stick but I know what I saw.
"One of my neighbours Helen Currie is a music teacher and she was taking her car out at the time.
"She saw something rustling the bushes on waste ground next to her house near the council offices and asked me to check it out - but she didn't see the cat."
"I think it must have come from the golf course where it's been seen before."
The neighbour said: "Ian was really agitated and said he saw a big, black beast.
"I was very nervous. I would prefer not to think about it because I go out with my pet dog and I don't want to meet that."
Another neighbour, Elizabeth McDonald - no relation - added: "I know Ian and he is not stupid. He must have seen something, but I'm not too bothered about it myself."
Pub manager Gary Coutts said: "The big cat sighting is the talk of the town.
"All my regulars are chatting about it and some are giving Ian a bit of a ribbing.
"But he's not the kind of guy to come out with something like this if it wasn't true. If he said he saw it, then he saw it."
Ian is well known in the town where he has raised more than £8,000 for local charities including the PDSA and Cancer Research.
Big cat investigator Mark Currie today said he believed the animal may be a Kellas cat.
In June members of Inverurie Golf Club spotted what appeared to be a big cat on their course.
Press and Journal, 29 th July 2002
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