A local farmer in Grantown-on-Spey, near the Cairngorms National Park, allegedly saw the feline on Friday night.

John Kirk first raised the alarm after he said he saw a “very large black cat” crossing the road near a petrol station and was “surprised” by the number of people who claimed to have also seen it. 

When pressed about the size of the animal on his Facebook post, he said the beast was “about puma size”.

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“It was on Friday night. My wife and I had just come into Grantown at 9.45pm and a very large black cat crossed the road at the old filling station,” Kirk told the Strathspey Herald.

“It’s the second time I’ve seen such an animal in the area and I have also seen a similar beast in the night at Boat of Garten.

“When we came up to the cemetery and old fuel station, a big cat crossed the road in front of us.

“I posted on Facebook and I was surprised by the amount of people who had also seen it lately around the outskirts of the town.”

According to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), there have been no official reports of a big cat in the area, but they urged people to stay away from the wild felines.

There have been a number of big cat sightings over the years in and around the Cairngorms, ranging from wildcats, lynx and pumas, with more than 1500 allegedly seen, according to the Scottish Big Cat Mapping Project.

18 wildcats have been released into the Cairngorms (Image: Saving Wildcats)

In October, the Saving Wildcats project, led by conservation charity the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), released 18 wildcats in the national park.

It marked the third year in a row that wildcats have been released into the Highlands, following the species being declared functionally extinct in the UK in 2019.

Paul Macdonald, who runs Scottish Big Cat Research, said it was possible a Kellas cat, a hybrid species between domestic felines and wildcats, was spotted as they can be misidentified as a puma, according to the Scottish Sun. 

“We are quite aware of big cat sightings in the Highlands. Scottish wildcats can be expected but do also find their way into built-up areas,” he said. 

“While we don’t deal with Kellas cats, we do come across them as people often misidentify them as big cats like a puma.

“They can be quite similar to a wildcat, they are jet black or uniform grey. Kellas cats can be as small as a big domestic cat to three or four feet in length.

“Pumas and Kellas sightings are few and far between but they have been consistent, they tend to be very solitary and stay away from people. But they are wild so I wouldn’t advise trying to feed it.”

Kellas cats are typically black, often with a white spot on the chest, and are large-bodied.