The Beast of Berwickshire

The Scottish county of Berwickshire may be home to some rodents of unusual size.

For the past few years people living in the area have caught glimpses of gigantic guinea pigs roaming around. The massive rodents are thought to be wild capybara, which are native to South America.

Last Sunday Joyce McLean and her daughter Louise say they spotted the beast as it crossed the road between Chirnside and Auchencrow.

“We knew it was something strange as soon as it crossed in front of the car,” Joyce said.

When Joyce got home she checked the archives of the Berwickshire News as she recalled reading about Mark Pentecost spotting a huge guinea pig in the area back in 2006.

“I knew I had seen something similar in the paper before and when we got back I looked in the archives – it was just the same as Mr Pentecost said, like a giant guinea pig.” Joyce said

“I immediately drew to a stop as I had never seen a creature quite like it before,”

“The creature resembled a huge rodent but with a turned up snout, and had an extremely unusual gait as it hopped past the front of our car.”

Animal experts agree that if a captive capybara managed to escape from a zoo or private collection, the 4′ long rodents would easily adapt to living in the UK.

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