by Chris Malone
Caravan owners often expect to get close to nature and take in some wildlife when on holiday, but one Scottish site may be inadvertently taking the concept a stage further.
According to the Aberdeenshire Press & Journal, a retired sheriff is the latest person to report a sighting of what appears to be a panther in the vicinity of Dornoch Caravan Park in the Highlands.
Donald Booker-Milburn told the newspaper how he was returning from exercising his dog – an Irish Setter – when a “lovely, sleek animal” ran across his path.
“It was far too big [to be a domestic cat],” he said. “I would say about the size of a six-month-old Labrador. The way it moved, too, convinced me it was some type of panther.”
Mr Booker-Milburn added that he had to stop his dog from going after it and that he had never given any credence to such sightings before but is convinced by what he saw.
Another sighting of an animal of similar description came from Ray Paton – a range warden at the Tain Bombing Range.
He explained that a four-foot-long cat appeared in front of him as he was doing his rounds at approximately 06:30 BST on August 26th.
Meanwhile, the Leicester Mercury today reported that a similar sighting occurred in Rutland, where a motorist reported that a black cat the size of an Alsatian had run across his path.
