'Puma' Spotted On Arthur’s Seat By Police Helicopter

Police in Scotland were left open-mouthed when they saw what they believe was a Puma while searching for a missing mum.

The big cat was reportedly sitting on Arthur’s Seat - the peak of a group of hills in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park - in 2012 by a police helicopter.

Inspector Nick Whyte was one of the officers on board the helicopter, that was dispatched to search for a vulnerable mother in the middle of the night after a two-year-old baby was discovered abandoned close to St Leonard’s police station.

While searching through undergrowth with infrared camera, Inspector Whyte set eyes on what he is convinced was a puma.

He told the Edinburgh Evening News: “We detected a very large heat source that we thought was possibly the mother.

“As I directed a female police officer towards it, the heat source got up and it turns out it was a big cat –we think a puma or something like that.”

Describing the animal as “three times the size”of a nearby female police officer, Inspector Whyte is certain this was no domestic cat.

He added: “She couldn’t see it and she couldn’t hear it.

“I just told her calmly to stop where she was and turn around and walk away, and she did.

“The cat bounded off, never to be seen again.”

No video footage exists of the incident but Inspector Whyte is convinced that big cats “are alive and well in Edinburgh”.

The missing woman was found safe and well a few days later.

Large exotic cats are rumoured to be living wild throughout the UK, with reported sightings in Selby, Derbyshire and Bodmin.

In 2012 a search for a lion that was reportedly spotted in Essex was called off after it turned out to be a large fluffy pet named Teddy Bear.