Lion alert on Scottish hillside (Via Paul Cropper)

Lion alert on Scottish hillside
By Rod Mills
7 May 2010
The Daily Express

IT IS a far cry from the scorched savannah plains, but experts are hunting an African lioness in Scotland.
A retired academic believes he spotted the big cat roaming the Kilsyth Hills, north of Glasgow. Although there have been more than 2,100 sightings of pumas, panthers, and lynxes in Britain - with 125 in Scotland -Dr Bob Sharp's sighting, on April 22, is believed to the first of a Panthera leo.

Wildlife experts yesterday described the claim as "not impossible", but they want more information. Dr Sharp, 64, was climbing the 1,874ft Meikle Bin, east of Fintry, Stirlingshire, when he saw a "large animal running from left to right yards away". The respected academic, who also led Loch Lomond Mountain Rescue for 12 years, said the five-foot long beast had beige fur, chunky, fur-covered legs, a long tail and "rounded-off ears", and was clearly a female African lion.

The former head of department of sports studies at Strathclyde University said: "I was nearing the summit and I saw this lion, and I have no doubts. "I saw it for about 10 seconds. Initially, my brain was trying to say it was a fox, but it clearly wasn't. It was 50 yards in front of me, just padding across the hillside, left to right, running, not going at full pelt. I watched before it disappeared briefly, and then reappeared before it went into the tree line.
"I've been walking the Scottish mountains for 35 years and I have never ever seen anything like that." The area in which the lioness is prowling is close to farmland and moors, which would provide a plentiful supply of deer, lamb and sheep.

Experts believe many large cats were released when the Dangerous Animals Act came into force in 1976, by owners who did not want them to be destroyed. Simon Milne, chief executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said he was keen to find out more about the sighting, adding: "It is certainly not impossible. It could have been something someone released at some stage.

"People sometimes keep the weirdest of pets until they become too dangerous or too big." Lions normally live in prides, and, with their massive shoulders and strong forelimbs, long, sharp claws, and short, powerful jaws, their roar can be heard more than five miles away. Both Strathclyde and Central Scotland Police say they are not aware of lions within their force areas.