“Beast of Balbirnie” Cast Update
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 3rd, 2006
Earlier here, CryptoZoo News mentioned the Scottish footcast found and declared authentic by the authorities. Several people have asked for us to publish the photograph of it.
So here it is, with the official comparative examples of other casts:
Photo A: "Beast of Balbirnie" cast
Photo B: Balbirnie cast (top), captive puma (right), dog (bottom), leopard (left)
Credit: BBC News
By the way, in yesterday’s press reports, Paul Westwood was quoted by the media as disagreeing with the findings that the Beast of Balbirnie cast is a leopard’s.
I asked Paul what he really said and feels about the cast. Here’s his reply:
From what I can see from the picture of the paw print it is impossible to identify what animal made the print. I am surprised that police have accepted the findings of this so called expert. I do believe that there are big cats on the loose in the UK but I have yet to see any conclusive proof to support this. How can any one say by looking at that paw print conclude that it is from an 18 month old Leopard? Utter nonsense.
I have been misquoted in that I did not say that it was the wrong shape. I said that the print was not clear enough to give a positive identification. It was probably made by a dog.
You are welcome to use my comments.
Regards,
Paul Westwood
Big Cat Monitors
What animal do you, the Cryptomundo readers, think left the "Beast of Balbirnie" footprint?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
The cast just looks like a big blob to me. I’d agree with Paul Westwood–there’s no way you can tell what left those tracks from those pictures alone.
Actually, if you look closely, it matches NONE of those, but is CLOSEST TO LEOPARD.
They should not have used chewing gum to make the cast. Plaster works much better.
CHEWING GUM! This reminds me of when those fake tracks were found at Loch Ness, back in the 30s, except those were plaster. This is also kind of like the So-No-NO-Ma Bigfoot video, they use something cheap so the details won’t show. Of course, chewing gum may just have been what was there, so was the material used.
They look like normal leopard prints to me. It’s hard to tell with the just the pictures though. They could have used plaster instead of chewing gum. Plaster works MUCH better then gum.