Police Hunt For The Yeti Of Ayr
By Callum Frew in the Daily Record, 18 th January 1999
Police are keeping an eye out for Scotland's very own Yeti.....A baboon-like creature was spotted by a motorist near Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire. A police patrol car sped to the scene and two officers also saw the animal. But it vanished into undergrowth when they got within 30 yards of it. A police spokeswoman said yesterday: "We received a call from a local man who said he'd narrowly avoided hitting a baboon-like creature on Shaw Farm Road, Prestwick. A patrol car was sent out and after a search of the area the officers reported seeing an animal of some sort, although they couldn't be sure what it was."
Merciless.
Checks were also made at the airport which had received a cargo of livestock, but there were no reports of escaped baboons. One senior policeman said: "The officers were very careful how they phrased the sighting over the radio. The mickey taking could have been merciless and they didn't want to make monkeys of themselves." Baboons prefer open rocky ground or wooded areas - of which there are plenty in Ayrshire - and eat meat, berries and fruit. Larger males are considered especially dangerous if cornered. Several sightings of a black puma-like animal have also been made in Prestwick, Dundonald and the surrounding area over the past few years. No Scottish zoo's keep baboons, but experts admitted that some one may have had one as a pet.
© Daily Record: 18 th January 1999
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