Report from George Markie
Big Cat Mystery
From the Paisley Daily Express 5 th March 2003
AN animal expert is to launch a special probe after a gran discovered mysterious paw prints in her garden.
Mary Erskine, 42, was baffled by the animal prints, which she spotted outside her family's home.
The gran described the paw prints as being "as big as a human hand" and added "you could even see the claws in them".
Mary, of Walnut Crescent, Johnstone Castle, photographed the strange tracks.
But she has been unable to work out what kind of creature left them when it wandered through her back garden.
Now big-cat expert Mark Fraser is set to examine the pictures to see if he can identify what kind of animal made them.
And he revealed there had also been a sighting of a puma-like creature in the Renfrewshire area recently.
Hunting
Mark, who runs the Scottish branch of the Big Cats Society, has been hunting big cats for the last 15 years.
He said: "If the photographs are clear enough I should be able to identify what kind of animal made them."
Mark, whose interest in natural history led to a fascination with big cats, added: "We have also had reports of a large puma-like creature in the village of Bridge of Weir.
"A gentleman reported seeing the animal in a garden there. It was about twice the size of a fox and a sandy brown colour. It also had a long bushy tail that tapered off at the end.
"We reckon these kind of animals can travel about 20 or 30 miles, so the paw prints in Johnstone and the sighting in Bridge of Weir could be the same creature.
"That is entirely possible, or they could be two different animals.
Mark added: "We will definitely be looking into the sightings."
Paisley Daily Express, 5 th March 2003
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