In a desperate bid to find love, a determined moose has escaped from a Highland Perthshire estate for the second time in a week.
The six-year-old bull moose, known as Hercules, sparked a major search operation at the Pitcastle Estate, Strathtay when he disappeared from his enclosure on Saturday evening.
He hasn’t been seen since Monday morning and is believed to be heading towards the Highland Wildlife Park, which is home to a European elk called Cas.
Courier reporter Sandra Gray joined the hunt for Hercules.
Being tasked with tracking down a lovesick lothario isn’t your every day job, so I needed to make sure I had the right tools.
Armed with a fetching deerstalker, and a magnifying glass, I hit the road to see if I could spot the elusive elk.
I headed towards Hercules’s last-known whereabouts near Dalnacardoch Woods, 18 miles north of Pitlochry.
Despite being apprehensive about coming face-to-face with the wandering moose, I headed into the depths of the forest.
As I got deeper into the woods, my mind started to play tricks on me. Tree branches suddenly became antlers and when I caught my sleeve on an overhanging branch, my heart leapt into my mouth.
I spun round, convinced the gentle giant would be standing there but was faced only with a laughing photographer as Kris Miller captured my disappointment on film.
Sadly, I had left Hercules’s favourite treat of bananas in the car, so with nothing else to entice him with and the light fading fast, I returned home a failure.