Joe Fay reports on an unpleasant meeting between rambler and reindeer:
Children are advised to hide under the duvet if they hear sleighbells this Christmas Eve, after it emerged that reindeers appear to have developed a taste for human flesh.
The reindeer’s ability to transform from Santa’s little helper to ravening maneater was illustrated by the tale of a 57-year-old woman who was subjected to a terrifying two-hour assault from a juvenile male last month.
Pat Cook was walking in the Cromdale Hills near Grantown-on-Spey when the juvenile bull separated himself from the rest of the UK’s only reindeer herd and began stalking her.
As she reached the summit of the hill, he pounced, knocking her to the ground.
Cook told The Scotsman: “One of my walking poles was thrown into the air. The reindeer kept trying to stick its antlers into me, but I managed to brace my feet on them.”
You’d really better watch out!