The Hawick News of 2 November 2001 said Teviotdale was gripped by panther fever after several sightings of a large black cat in the Mansfield area. Workers at Jackson Tool Hire said they saw an animal about the size of a Doberman or Boxer shortly after 11am on the Wednesday. The assistant depot manager said he had no doubt it was a large panther or puma, with a long thick tail and a bulky black body, and that five people watched it before calling the police.
PC Mark Rafferty, one of two officers who attended, said the witnesses were certain, and that as another officer arrived with a camera the animal came out of the woods and walked towards them. He took some photographs before it made off, stopping to look back at them. One officer thought through binoculars that it might be a large domestic cat. Householders at Branxholme, south of the town, described a large black cat watching them from about twenty feet away, and another neighbour reported strange paw prints and a big black animal in her garden. The archive lists further Hawick sightings in November and December 2001.
I have not seen the photographs, so the identification remains open.
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