Report from Mike Inglis and George Markie
Big Cat sightings in the Scottish Borders
E.mail report, February 2002
Very interested in your article in the Sunday Post of 20 th Jan. about big cat sightings.
Going back quite a number of years when employed as a postman part of my duty one Saturday was to deliver a wedding telegram to a hotel in Longformacus near Duns, Berwickshire. It was a dark winter's evening at about 5 pm. and I was nearly half way to Longformacus when suddenly an animal appeared from my right in the full glare of the headlights. The animal landed in the middle of the road and another leap took it clear over to the other side and into a field. I took it to be some sort of puma-like animal with a brown coat, heavy head with short pointed ears and quite a long tail. A few days later I reported the incident to a sergeant at Duns police station. I believe there was a map in that station with the markings of where a strange animal had been seen.
Soon after this a report was published in a newspaper on sightings of a strange animal in the Abbey St. Bathans area by a woman who helped her husband run a farm near there. The distance from Longformacus and Abbey St. Bathans across country is not very far, both areas being rather remote.
Some time after my sighting of this animal a gentleman from down south put out an appeal for information about big cats and I wrote to him about my experience. He contacted me asking if he could use my name and the information for a book he was in the process of writing. I readily agreed because I consider it to be very important that these things should be made known. I regret that I do not have his address and cannot find his letter.
There was another sighting by a rep. who had seen a strange puma-like animal whilst travelling around the same area. He apparently stopped at a telephone kiosk to call in an order for a customer and whilst doing so he was telling the person at his firms office about the animal he had seen and as he looked out of the kiosk window saw what he took to be the same animal walk past. That must have been somewhat alarming to say the least.
Perhaps this information is of little or no use to you but there is no harm done. If I can be of any further assistance to you please do not hesitate to get back to me. Wishing you both good luck with your project.
Scottish Big Cats, February 2002
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