Moggy sparks debate in big cat claim
Published 25 Aug 2009 12:35
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IS THIS the moggy that sparked the big cat claim in Helensburgh two months ago?
Three year old Puss-Puss, a jet black cat from the Churchill estate, is believed to be the same one captured in the latest footage in the saga, by Faslane worker Derek MacKenzie.
He raced to the track across the road from his house after spotting what he thought was the big cat captured by MoD PC Chris Swallow the week before.
But, as this exclusive video shows, it is no more than a domestic.
Derek is convinced that the felines caught on both camera clips are the same one.
He said: "We were in the car driving home from Bo'ness and my son noticed the cat on the railway line - the same track that it had been spotted on the week before.
"I recognised it instantly because of its shape and profile - it was the double of the cat we had all seen in the footage."
He added: "When Chris took his footage it did look like a big cat.
"But I have no doubt in my mind this is just a normal, domestic cat; there is a lady who lives up the road who has a jet black cat and I wouldn't be surprised if it was that one."
Puss-Puss' owner is 11 year old Sophie Wallace, and her mum told the Advertiser how people had suggested to her that the cat in the original footage was theirs, but she just laughed it off.
"I suppose you could say that it looks bigger than it actually is.
"All the boys thought it was him when they heard about the footage the first time.
"Puss-Puss wanders around the neighbourhood a lot and to our knowledge is the only black cat around here."
But big cat expert, Shaun Stevens, is having a look at footage to determine whether it is the same cat, which he believed may have been a hybrid species.
He said: "A domestic cat is usually between 12-18 inches long, and the footage that Chris took suggests it was around three feet in length.
"But, perspective and angles can change the size of an animal."
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