NEWSLINK-SCOTLAND-Fife is hotspot for big cat sightings

• A chilling image: this pawprint found in the snow is believed to have been left by the “Beast of Balbirnie.”DC Thomson

Fife has been revealed as a big cat hotspot after Courier Country sightings were laid bare by police.

Rumours of big cats in Fife have existed for years, ranging from Rathillet in the north to Saline in the south, as well as the Lomond Hills.

The figures include a dog walker reporting seeing a big dark coloured cat several times over the past two or three years in Glenrothes.

The data was revealed following a freedom of information request for details of big cat sightings in Courier Country since 2012.

Numerous sightings of big cats have been reported over the years, most notably in 2006 when Fife Constabulary believed they had found the first conclusive proof of a big cat known locally as the “Beast of Balbirnie.”

Officers produced a cast of a paw print which experts said might have been from an 18-month-old big cat, but sceptics argued it could have been from a large dog.

Since then, there have been various sightings including at Letham, Bishop Hill, between Glenrothes and Kinross and the Blairadam area of Kelty.

In 2012 a caller in Dunmore, Falkirk, saw a large cat - described as bigger than an alsation dog - while two large cats were seen by an officer in Tillicoultry in Clackmannanshire which were possibly lynx.

A deer carcass was also found destroyed in Rowardennan, Ben Lomond, in 2012. Police reported the caller thought another animal had been in the area and may be dangerous