Black cat surprise for Moray pupils
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Black cat hunter - Martin Mackay.
PUPILS at a rural Moray school received a shock wildlife lesson after being confronted by a big black cat during a game of playground football,
A few boys were kicking the ball around when it ended up in some long grass.
After searching for the ball, they were barely able to believe their eyes as they saw the animal standing in front of them in a field.
The animal was identified as a cat by 11-year-old Michael Mackay, a farmer’s son who lives at Mains of Morinsh, Glenlivet.
He alerted the other children in the playground and they streamed back into the school, before Michael knocked on the staff room door to tell the teachers.
"At first I thought it was a pig, but I looked around and it was a big cat. It was about the size of a Labrador," Michael told ‘The Scot’ this week. "It was quite amazing."
Michael said he was joined by two of his friends in spotting the animal. "I told the teachers and they looked out of the window, and then they saw it as well," he added.
Headteacher Nancy Fraser said Michael was shaking when he told them he had seen "a big black cat", which he described as having a curling, cat-like tail and a large lump of muscle between its front shoulders.
She said it was then spotted by one member of staff who went out to the playground, and another two who looked out of the window. It jumped over a fence and wandered away.
Mrs Fraser said she contacted the police and the Crown Estate, since the school sits on Crown Estate land.
A representative from the Crown Estate got in touch with a big cat expert and reported back to Mrs Fraser, saying it could well have been a so-called Kellas Cat, wild cats which have crossed with feral domestics. They can grow to between three and four feet long.
The Big Cats In Britain group has been inundated with reports of sightings from Moray since January, and is planning a trip to the area in July in an attempt to catch the animals on camera. According to the group, residents have so far claimed to have seen panthers, pumas, lynx and jaguars.
Reported hot spots for sightings have included the outskirts of Lossiemouth and Elgin, Lhanbryde, Aberlour, Dufftown and Duffus. There have been relatively few reports of attacks on livestock, however.
In last week’s ‘Scot’, Dufftown farmers Rob and Jean Macdonald reported a vicious attack on one of their lambs. However, Mrs McDonald said a local vet had told her he was 99% convinced a dog was to blame.
