Is the Lynx Still Alive and Well in Scotland?
The Lynx according to the books became extinct in Scotland around 7,000 years ago, although this date does vary depending on which work you read. But there are those that maintain that the Lynx actually survived in small isolated pockets up to the present day, it is a fact that they are being reported throughout the length and breadth of Scotland, as to how and why they got here remains a mystery.
In 1927 farmers around the Inverness area suffered numerous sheep and goat kills, the injuries inflicted on these animals were quite distinct from the usual dog and fox ravages. The culprit they believed was a "large, fierce yellow animal of unknown species", also described as a "Leopard without spots". Giant tracks were found around the area of the kills confusing the situation even more.
In desperation farmers decided to set traps in order to save their livestock, and put an end to this mystery beast once and for all. Surprisingly they did not have to wait for long as a very distraught and angry large cat was found one morning in the trap. But the slaughter did not stop, still sheep were being killed and partially devoured, still the, "Leopard without spots" was still being seen by shepherds and farmers alike. More traps were set which resulted in two more of these large, fierce animals being caught. The killings finally stopped and local farmers heaved a heavy sigh of relief.
One of the bodies was sent to London Zoo where it is said they identified it as a Lynx, "thick-set, with tufted ears and powerful forelegs and paws, such an animal as could hold at bay a pack of hounds." However, according to veteran big cat researcher Di Francis, London Zoo has no record of this event in its files today. She adds: "....and one wonders, anyway, just what was sent in for identification. The creature was shot in Inverness-shire and without freezing, the body would be in a rather advanced state of decomposition on arrival. If it was just the skin that was despatched to London, a true identification was highly unlikely.
We have to wait another 40 years before the Lynx reappears this time at the other end of the country in the Borders area. Locals were reporting a large cat with tufted ears and no tail. These sightings stretched over several months in the early part of 1967 and stopped just as suddenly as they had started, where this animal had come from or where it went remains is a complete mystery. Although a Lynx later appeared at North Berwick in January of 1976.
In July 1976 Mrs Sharon Lord had a rather frightening encounter near Drumnadrochit. The lady was sitting on a hillside when she stretched out her arm behind her and put her hand on a large cat which was lying in the bracken. She was bitten on the hand by the animal which then ran off. The cat was described as being twice the size of a domestic cat, orange-brown in colour with black spots and stripes. It had tufts on its ears. Mrs Lord didn't notice the tail because "I was too busy concentrating on the end with the teeth to bother about looking for a tail," she quipped.
On 10th August 1976 a woman in Glenfarg, Perthshire, was washing her supper dishes when her dog whined and scratched at the door. The lady let it out, and on her hearing its barking change to a whimper, she looked out to see it on the lawn shivering with fright. Sitting on its haunches on top of the garden wall was a huge cat, "the size of a fully grown Labrador," its eyes glowing orange in the dark. When she went out the creature got up and began to spit and howl. She noted its long pointed and tufted ears and that it stood at least 3 ft high. Quickly she scooped up the dog and dashed inside. The cat leapt into fields and vanished. The day before the same animal was spotted in the main street of Glenfarg, and was blamed for taking chickens from a wired coup.
Again reports were none existent of a Lynx-like creature until September 1980 when it surfaced in Cannich, Inverness-shire. Miss Chisholm reported a large gold coloured cat with brown stripes and a tuft on its tail, stalking her hens. From that date to the present various reports have come in all describing a lynx-like animal in various parts of Scotland, a sampling is listed below:
· November 1985 / Stevenson Industrial estate, Ayrshire. A friend of mine working as a taxi driver at the time, saw a lynx, with the definite tufts on its ears. He followed it into the undergrowth but lost it. The witness is ex-army, having served for 22 years, and actually hand-rearing a puma in Belize as a regimental mascot. He says he was definitely not mistaken as to what he had seen.
· December 1994 / Skene. A Lynx-like animal attacking a domestic cat. (Not to be confused with the gorilla that frequents the area!!)
· January 1995 / Several reports of a yellow Lynx-like cat in the Grampians.
· December 1996 / Martin Webster, a water bailiff with Don District Salmon Fisheries Board, was counting salmon on the River Urie. Rounding a bend he came face-to-face with a large animal. "The cat was about 2½ to 3ft long and had a short, snub tail. The first thing I noticed about it was its head, which was definitely a cat's head, with large, pointed ears. It's tail was very short - almost non-existent, and its coat was dark brown. From seeing them on telly I knew that what I was looking at was a lynx."
· 27th March 1996 / Farmers are still guarding their flocks around the clock in Fife, after the recent killings. At St. Andrews a ewe was eaten alive in a barn. Locals say that there has been a Lynx loose in the area for years.
· January 1997 / Springfield, Fife. The witness was driving a lorry past "Dairsie Mains" farm at approx 4.50am in the morning when a Lynx " bounded" across the road in front of him and jumped onto a wall on opposite side of road, turned and stared at the man. The witness turned his lorry and once back at spot he caught sight of the Lynx moving as though stalking something heading down the fields hedgerow towards the River Eden before losing sight of the Cat. The witness states that the animal was definitely a Lynx, stocky build, bobtail and face "beard" with tufted ears very prominent.
· January 2000 / 17th, near Strathdon, north of Ballater at about 18.00hrs.
In the witnesses own words: "I was driving back from the north coast where I had
been surveying Whooper Swans, when a Lynx crossed the road in front of me. It
was well within the range of the headlights but far enough ahead for me not to
brake hard. It was a tawny animal, very deep in girth, short in length with a short
tail and ear tufts. It ran steadily across the road in no particular hurry and
disappeared into open moorland but with surrounding woodland. It gave the impression of a chunky animal and was a bout the size of a full grown Labrador
dog.
· June 2000 / 26th. Tillynaught near Banff. A large cat approximately 6-7 months old fawn coat black tips on ears and tail, walked in front of car.
· October 2000 / Apprx 29th / Carnoustie. Julie King a visitor to the area who was driving north on the road linking East Haven with the A92 Dundee to Arbroath route she claims she saw a large cat-like creature standing in a field, just a few yards from the road. "I was driving up the road, from East Haven, heading back to Arbroath, when, I saw something odd at the-side of the road," she said. "It was about eight o'clock so it was dark. Through the dark, however, I saw a pair of eyes shining out at me. It was really eerie. I slowed the car down and whatever it was, it clearly wasn't bothered by my presence as it just stood there and stared at me. "It looked very much like a, lynx. It was about the, size of a dog end a mix of tan and black in colour. "After a few seconds it just turned and ran off across the, field. At its closest, it was just maybe 10 yards away from me and 1 wish I'd had a camera. "
· October 2000, 15th 20th apprx / Two females spotted what they believed to be a Lynx on disused ground in Carnoustie. They describe the animal as light brown to ginger, and larger than any dog, which is completely different to the Black Panther reports over the last couple of weeks. The police were informed but a search of the area found nothing.
· February 2001, 21st / Dumfries & Galloway. According to (unconfirmed) newspaper reports three Lynx have supposedly been released by the Countryside Alliance in protest to the recent banning of fox hunting with hounds.
· 5th September 2001 / Police issued a warning after a lynx was spotted on a golf course. Car salesman Sandy Gall was playing a round when the wild cat ran across the fairway. He said: "I've never believed these tales of big cats in the countryside before but I certainly do now. Sandy and friends, father and son Ian and Keith Duncan, were on the seventh green of the Nairn Dunbar course beside the Moray Firth when they saw the beast. Sandy, 57, of Inverness, said: "It was only 30 yards away so we had a good view of it. This was definitely a large male lynx The beast was about two and a half feet tall with sandy colouring and black tipped ears and tail." He added: "At first I thought it might be a lurcher dog but I could tell by the way the tail was held and the spectacular way it bounded off it was a cat."
· February 2002 / A Lynx-like cat seen near Craigeford at Insch by Doris Moore and her daughter whilst driving near their cottage. (Doris is the lady who had a rather terrifying encounter with a large black cat in January 2002)
· April 2002 / Stewarton, Ayrshire / Stewarton resident/ Half a mile from the town centre at Cunningham Walk Park. The witness was walking his dog when his animal stopped dead in its tracks, he looked up and saw what he said was most definitely a Lynx sat on the path staring at them, no more than 25 feet away. The dog started backing off. The Lynx stared at them for a few moments up and down, stood up and casually turned to walk away into bushes. Described as Labrador-size, pointed ears with the tufts / dark fawn / quite stocky or obviously well fed, short docked tail.
There are many theories as to why the Lynx and indeed the other large cats are reported in Scotland. A few maintain that the Lynx never in fact became extinct in Scotland at all but survived in isolated groups to the present day in various areas. Not many accounts of the Lynx in centuries gone by can be found from Scotland apart from one or two intriguing accounts from old works describing encounters with strange cat-like animals.
The Falkland area of Fife has long had the reputation of being haunted by werewolves. These werewolves were described as being 3ft in length, face like a wolf, with the ability to jump in trees from a standing position and feasted on rabbits. Could these Fife werewolves in reality have been the Lynx, from the descriptions it is quite likely.
The 1970s Exotic Wild Animals Act is another factor that comes into play. It is a fact that many people released large cats into the countryside because of the new laws, many have admitted this since. Mostly Pumas and Leopards were released, although these animals would have outlived their lives by now and this theory cannot readily explain the animals sighted long before the 70s Act came into being.
Illegal imports of foxes from Europe is another possibility. The batches of fox brought into the country by these people have on occasion had in their number wolf cubs and Lynx kittens, how many I wonder how many have been brought into the country via this method.
Of course we have those that say that these cats are in fact not flesh and blood animals at all, but ghosts or have been deposited here by the occupants of UFOs.
