Exclusive:Offshore worker tells of moment Labrador-sized 'puma' ran in front of his car on Scottish road

Officials at NatureScot were told of the alleged encounter in December

It was late afternoon on a winter’s day in Aberdeenshire when one driver got the shock of a lifetime.

An offshore worker has given a detailed account of the moment a “puma” ran in front of his car on the A96 between Inverurie and Huntly.

He told officials at NatureScot, the Scottish Government’s nature agency, the creature was roughly the same size as a Labrador with a long tail and tawny fur.

A puma, although not the one allegedly seen running across the A96 | Canva/Getty Images

The animal emerged suddenly from an embankment on his right, causing him to slam on his brakes. He then watched as the creature struggled to make its way through deep snow in a clearing beneath a thickly wooded hill.

The extraordinary account is contained in emails sent to NatureScot at the end of December. The incident is said to have taken place in either 2020 or 2021 on the A96 just beyond the hamlet of Colpy, about 30 miles north-west of Aberdeen.

It emerged after The Scotsman submitted a Freedom of Information request about alleged big cat sightings following the illegal release of four lynx in the Cairngorms last month.

The driver, whose name has been redacted, emailed NatureScot after reading a BBC article about big cat reports in Scotland, and said his own experience occurred three or four years earlier.

“I can’t remember if it was 2020 or 2021,” he wrote. “I was returning home from working three weeks offshore and driving on the A96 from Aberdeen to Inverness just west of Pitmachie.

“There had been heavy snowfall over the previous days and although the road was open, it wasn’t the best driving conditions. It was late afternoon/early evening and still enough daylight left to identify the exact type of cat. It was 100 per cent a puma, the exact same kind of cat that was featured in the BBC article I was reading.”

The location of the sighting | National World / Scotsman

He said he was driving at about 35mph or 40mph due to the road conditions, with the only other traffic a lorry around 100 yards ahead.

“Suddenly out of [the] embankment to my right, a large cat ran right across the road in front of me and behind the lorry causing me to hit the brakes of my car,” he wrote.

“There was a clearing between the road and a hill with thick trees at about 25m and I watched as this cat struggled to make its way to the trees in the deep snow. It was leaping across this clearing and the length of the tail is what I remember most.”

In response to questions from the agency, the offshore worker said the creature was “roughly the same size [as] my pet Labrador” and tawny in colour, similar to Felicity, a female puma famously captured in the Highlands in 1980.

“I remember the lorry in front of me pulled into the petrol station at Huntly after a while, so I also pulled [up] to ask the driver if he saw anything in his side view mirrors but unfortunately because he was focused on the road ahead he didn’t,” he added.

NatureScot said it would file the report away “in case we get any further sightings”. A mammals specialist wrote: “I don’t recall us getting other big cat sightings from that location, though wildcats have been recorded around that area.”

Aberdeenshire has previously been identified as a hotspot for supposed big cat sightings.