Big Cat Leaves Big Mystery Behind

In the wake of this Spring’s Big Cat investigation, it seems the
mysterious creatures are ignoring the official explanation that they
cannot exist in the locations they are being reported.  And the latest
sighting, this one by Dr. Bob Sharp, is only punctuating the latest
wave of mysterious animals appearing and subsequently disappearing long
before they can be captured and examined.

Bob Sharp,
the 64 year old retired head of the Strathclyde University Department
of Sports, was strolling up Meikle Bin on Thursday, April 22, for a
long half-day trek through the wilderness along the west edge of the
Carron Valley Reservoir in the hopes of a long and relaxing journey to
keep healthy and enjoy nature.  What he found, however, would leave the
skeptical man, who considers himself a very evidence based investigator
perplexed for quite some time.  In an email he shared with his friends
and associates, he described spotting a strange creature whose presence
would have been thought impossible if he hadn’t been observing it with
his own two eyes.

The creature was brown, had large
fur-covered legs, and a long flicking tail.  Its ears were rounded,
unlike a dog’s.  The creature skulked about like a female lion on the
prowl, not jostling along like a wild dog or a wolf.  In his
description he went through a list of creatures it could not have been,
including a sheep, cow, deer, badger, fox, hare, wildcat, otter, or any
other animal that should be in the region wild or domestic.  He claimed
to have been completely sober at the time, knowing full well that a
hiker alone in the wilderness should not imbibe alcohol as it can
quickly be a bad mix.  He also declared that he had not been “high on
drugs” either.  And though the walk was long, he did not drive himself
to the point of fatigue or hallucination through cold or overheating. 
That same day he revisited the area, but failed to locate the creature
or any evidence that one of its description had passed through the area.

Local
wildlife authorities stated the likelihood of spotting such a creature
to be unlikely, but well withing the realm of possibility.  As of
January of 2009, there were well over 2,000 Big cat sightings reported
to the British Big Cat Society or BBCS.  The sightings most commonly
report Panthers or a creature strikingly similar to the various breeds
of black cat such as the panther.  This is particularly interesting
since black cats are generally a stage of development for several
species of big cat and not a species in themselves.  Though there has
been great interest in the possibility of escaped big cats in Britain,
but the collection of remains of big cats has been extremely limited. 
In 2006 there was a Eurasian Lynx shot and killed, and later confirmed
by a police report, but at the rate the cats are reported there should
be far more wild cats discovered, found dead, and captured in the
area.  Since these are not being discovered, the phenomenon remains
unexplainable to this day.