A fresh sighting has further fuelled the suggestion that an elusive big cat could be roaming the Angus/Mearns border.
Jo Tonkinson, a leather worker and saddle maker in Shetland, wastravelling to a horse riding seminar inWorcestershire.
She said she was being driven by a friend when she saw a black creature ‘stalking’ along the fence line just off the A90 near Edzell.
It follows a similar big cat sighting near the same spot two years ago.
“I am not taken to flights of fancy,”she said.“But on the A90 near Edzell/Fettercairn, while a passenger in a car I saw what I can only describe as a black leopard-sized/shaped cat. It was stalking along the fence line between a wooded area and a cut barley field.
“Proportions were wrong for any breed of dog with which I am familiar.
“Initially I thought it was a blackGerman Shepherd being taken for a walk, then realised it was not a dog at all and there were no people about.
“I have often read reports of sightings of large cats and taken them with a pinch of salt as photos often prove to be just large domestic cats with the perspective taken out of context.
“But the body ratios of what I sawand proportions were all wrong for a domestic or wild cat or any kind of dog.
“What I saw was too long in the body and low slung with a tail two thirds longer than any dog breed I know of and the head and lack of muzzle pointed more to large cat than dog.
“The set of the tail too was characteristic of a big cat. I’m kicking myself that I did not take more notice of landmarks and the exact area when I saw it.”
Two years ago a black cat was sighted between the A90 and the Edzell toFettercairn Road and was reported to police and the British Big Cats Society.
Dorothy Pert of Edzell Woods was in the car with her husband when the cat crossed their path.
There were other sightings nearBenholm Mill and Auchenblae.
Sightings of big cats have been reported across Courier Country for years, with most centred on the countryside of Angus and north-east Fife.
Angus man Neil Wood spotted what is believed to be the region’s big cat while approaching Edzell in 2001.
He saw the panther-like beast lying on a drystane dyke at the side of the road.
He slowed his car and says the animal, about four feet long, rose on to all fours and jumped from the dyke beforedisappearing into the woods.