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Mark
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The Balbirnie Beast - Solved!
« Thread Started on Dec 23, 2005, 8:39pm »

I'd expect most people in Glenrothes have now heard of the Balbirnie Beast, but here are some links in case you need to catch up:
More Evidence of the Beast of Balbirnie (Fife Free Press)
Hunting the Beast of Balbirnie (Fife Free Press)
Big Cat or Muckle Dog? (Fife Free Press)
Zoologist studies big cat print (BBC Website)

Anyway, it made the national news, was on tv etc. and I didn't think much about it really, until I was walking round Balbirnie with Murphy the dog one evening about a month ago, and it suddenly got really dark about half way round, leaving us to walk the rest of the foresty trail in the pitch black. So it was then that I remembered about the Balbirnie Beast story - I was pretty sure that Murphy would have a square go if it jumped out at us, but he's 10 years old now and all I'd be able to do to help would be to poke it with a stick. If there was a stick nearby. Probably something that your average puma or lion manages to deal with regularly without breaking a sweat.

So, I convinced myself it was probably nonsense and finished the rest of the walk in the dark with millions of years of natural selection nagging the back of my brain to be on the lookout just in case there really was a big bloody panther hiding in those bushes up ahead, waiting for me and the dog for supper.

I was off on my travels when Balbirnie Beast story originally broke, and first saw it on the bbc site, which we were checking fairly regularly for news of home.

My first thought was that my sister Lisa and her husband Callum had been up to visit my parent's house in Markinch around the time that the paw prints were discovered. They live down in Thatcham, so they only come up occasionally, but when they do, they bring their dog.

His name is Bernard, and he looks like this:
[image]

He's a St. Bernard, and is massive. Even for a St. Bernard.
Lisa and Callum had definitely taken him for loads of walks up Balbirnie when they were visiting (my mum and dad's house is only 200 yards or so from the park) and so in the interest of me feeling safe to take the dog for walks round Balbirnie in the dark again, I promised myself that I'd investigate the Beast of Balbirnie a bit when they came up for Christmas.

They arrived a couple of days ago, with Bernard in tow.
[image]

So it was time to test the theory out.

First off, here's the picture of the policeman holding the pawprint cast, and a picture of Brent holding Bernard's paw:

[image]

Next up, its the picture of the cast next to a ruler:
[image]

It's not the easiest to see, but it's about 4 and a half inches from the top to the bottom.

I found a measuring tape and with lots of help, managed to get Bernard to lie down and let me measure his paw....
Here we go:
[image]

So Bernard's hairy front paw is the same size as the cast of the pad of the Beast of Balbirnie.

I opened photoshop and stuck the paw pic on top of the cast - it fits perfectly - Lisa thinks it's an exact match, and she has a degree in biology and works as a park ranger teaching kids everything about animals (including their tracks).
Here's the merged picture:

[image]

and here are the two side by side:
[image]

It's Bernard's pawprint!
Yay!
He is the Beast of Balbirnie (although he's actually very friendly and spends most of the time sleeping and blocking doorways).

I hereby declare that Balbirnie park is safe to roam in, free from the worry of a good mauling by a big misplaced cat, and wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy (safe dog walking) new year.

Cheers,
Mark.

PS Thanks to Lisa, Callum and Brent and especially Bernard for their assistance in all this.

PPS Since this thread is getting a bit of attention now, heres a link to the place Bernard came from (he's a rescue dog): http://www.danes.org.uk/ I'm sure they'd appreciate a visit to their site

« Last Edit: Nov 7, 2007, 11:52am by Mark »