The Beast of Monklands is out there!

That's the chilling message from Advertiser readers who have seen what they believe to be a powerful big cat roaming the area.

Following the discovery of mysterious paw prints on a farm near Airdrie, which we reported earlier this month, members of the public called to tell us what they had witnessed.

Alarmingly THREE separate sightings occurred in a triangle to the east of Airdrie between Caldercruix, Gartness and Salsburgh.

Gartness resident Lindsay Duncan told how she saw a panther-like creature after she went to bring her dog in from the back garden late in the evening.

She said: "I found my dog cowering in a corner of the back garden and then I saw what I can only describe as a fully-grown black panther, which saw me and jumped about eight or nine feet on to scaffolding.

"It looked at me and I went closer to get a better look and it spat and hissed. I got the impression that it was more afraid of me than I was of it. I couldn't believe the size of it, it was huge.

"I told my upstairs neighbour about it and a few months later he said that he had actually seen it himself."

A Coatbridge taxi driver recalled the moment he saw what he is convinced was a wild cat.

He said: "I was coming out of Salsburgh after dropping someone off and this thing darted across the road in front of my car.

"It wasn't a deer, it had pointed ears and looked something like a lynx.

"I was going to report it to the police but I never did. I felt a bit upset about not calling them because children could have been out playing there.

"That's what made me phone you after I read your story about the farm.

"And I know the farm is not that far away from Salsburgh so it could be the same creature.

"I have been a taxi driver in the area for 21 years and I have never seen anything like that before."

Three miles north of Salsburgh, near Hillend Loch, outside Caldercruix, a dog walker called to say that he had seen what he is convinced was a big cat last month.

"I thought it was a deer at first but it didn't run away when my dog barked at it," he explained. " It just stood there and looked at us and then it walked into the long grass and lay down. It was the height of a big greyhound but much more muscular.

"It was very dark, if not black, and it was definitely a cat.

"I reported it to the police."

Despite the proximity of East Dunsysten Farm to these sightings, it seems unlikley that the original paw marks were caused by anything feline.

The farm owner is convinced it was a big cat and so is his wife who is too terrified to go any where near the gate at the end of their driveway after dark.

But after examining our pictures of the marks at the farm, Animal Biology graduate Colin Smith came up with another explanation.

He said: "I believe that its possible there are big cats in the wilds of mainland Britain and I would not discount them being in the central belt but this particular case is easily explained.

"It is my strong belief that these are scrapings not pug marks, scrapings made possibly by a badger, but more likely a rabbit.

"I feel for the woman of the house being afraid to go to her gate but I think its probably a good idea to let her know that she has more chance of winning the lottery than getting pounced on by a big cat in her driveway, even if they were real."