Big as a Hound

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Elma McMenemy with her dog Staffa. She says the big cat she saw was the same size as her pet.	Big as a Hound Mearns Leader: 29th February 2008

THERE have been two more sightings of a big cat in the Stonehaven area. Marketing and PR consultant Elma McMenemy, who lives at Barras, had a close encounter with the beast, which she described as similar to a panther, on Cheyne Hill while out walking her dogs on Tuesday morning.
Mrs McMenemy's suspicions were first aroused when her dogs, both deerhounds, began scratching at a stone wall.
She told the Leader: "They were terribly attracted to the wall. One of my dogs jumped over it. I looked over to see what was happening and the cat stood up. It was right there, about three or four feet away from me."
Mrs McMenemy (56), said the cat was "completely black, with a shiny, smooth coat" and the same height as one of her deerhounds - about 28 inches tall.
"The dogs appeared to have interrupted its breakfast," she continued. "It had been gnawing at what looked like a deer's leg. My dogs gave chase, and it ran. It tried to take its meal with it, but dropped it a few seconds later".
She said: "I got such a fright, I was so shaken up. I think it's a good idea for other dog walkers to be warned. My dogs are quite big so thankfully it ran away."
She added she would think twice about taking her dogs to Cheyne Hill – at least for a few days.
This remarkable sighting comes just days after the Leader was told of another reported sighting in a garden in the harbour area of Stonehaven.
Carol McCaskie, who lives in the Old Town, says that she saw a big cat two months ago. Her partner, Chris Stephen, said: "We weren't going to mention it until we saw in last week's Leader that there had been a sighting at Crawton. We thought people wouldn't believe us."
Miss McCaskie said: "It was about half four in the morning. Our dog Moya started barking, which is very unusual for her in the middle of the night. I let her and our cat out, but the pair of them both froze on the front steps. That's when I saw the big cat at the end of the garden."
She said it was smooth haired, and a "solid, dark colour".
Miss McCaskie continued: "It just turned round slowly and looked at me, then at our cat and the dog, before it just slowly strolled away."
"It was about the same size as our cocker spaniel, but it was definitely not a dog. It was a big cat." she insists.
Carol and Chris became even more suspicious when, three weeks ago, their dog started barking at half past four in the morning once again. This time, they found a large dead rabbit on the steps in front of their home.
In a further mystery, four or five domestic cats disappeared from the area around that time.
Miss McCaskie reported the rabbit carcass to the vet, and was referred to David McKinnon the Wildlife Police Officer for Grampian, who came and removed the animal. Mr McKinnon told the Leader that he is still awaiting test results to reveal what killed the rabbit, adding: "We have had lots of sightings of big cats in the Grampian area over the years. Many of them have been reported by credible people, including doctors and police officers. So yes, we do get big cat sightings in Grampian. But the jury's still out on whether there are indeed big cats in Britain."

Do you have any information on the above reports. Were you the person involved, or are you aware of any more sightings in this area. We would appreciate any information that you could give us.

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Big as a Hound

Mearns Leader: 29th February 2008