Feline mystery

As Paul Westwood of Big Cat Monitors rightly suggests, it is unlikely that there are numbers of large felines roaming Scotland (and the rest of the UK) as there is no “hard evidence” (your report, 12 April).

However, hundreds of people, including me, have seen these creatures, and many have been hard-headed country folk who are very familiar with animal life and unlikely to confuse a panther with a large dog.

After my latest sight of a panther-like animal on Deeside – there are many reports here of a “Crathes Cat” described as looking like a “small lion” – I read a fascinating book by Merrily Harpur, a Jungian Irish artist who lives in Dorset: Mystery Big Cats, published by Heart of Albion Press.

Her theory – which will have rationalist readers choking over their morning porridge – is that these creatures are dwellers in another dimension, rather like fairies and other supernatural creatures like the Loch Ness monster, and that their dimension occasionally interacts with ours in a physical way.

This theory has the benefit of explaining why the creatures have apparently vanished before the viewer’s eyes, yet appeared completely solid at the time, even killing sheep and other small animals, or hitting cars and then vanishing, yet leaving a large dent. It also explains the absence of any dead bodies found.

Highlanders and those blessed with the “second sight” will have no difficulty with this explanation; the more scientific might reject it – until they see one of these creatures and have to provide a rational explanation.

Personally, I am happy with the view that “there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy” and more prosaically, given Merrily Harpur suggests that Scotland is a hotbed of anomalous feline activity, these creatures can do wonders for the Scottish tourist industry! 

(Dr) Mary Brown

Dalvenie Road

Banchory