Two members of the public have reported spotting a “large, black and muscular” cat in fields between Betws-yn-Rhos, Abergele and Llanfair Talhaiarn over the weekend.
At around 7:30 PM on Saturday November 20th, Naomi and Dan had just driven through the Betws-yn-Rhos when they encountered the animal “just after the turning for Hunters Hamlet Caravan Park”.
They told Puma Watch: “We were driving along the road, what we thought was a large Rottweiler along the hedge turned to dart up the bank in the trees/hedges.
“We noticed a long tail and muscular back end. Was all black about the size of a very large Rottweiler or even bigger.”
Just two days before their encounter, a large black cat sent a “terrified” dog walker running back to her car near Llanddulas – just two miles from Naomi and Dan’s sighting.
Sarah told Puma Watch: “Me and my dog Lauren were out for our afternoon walk at a hill we found a few weeks ago, called Maiden’s Leap on Google Maps.
“Tonight, as we were walking back down the hill, I could see this large, black animal prowling along the hedge line at the bottom of the hill.
“It started to come closer towards us but it kept skirting the edge rather than right at us. I could see it was well over a metre long from head to tail and double the height of my dog easily (she’s a golden retriever)
“I absolutely legged it back to my car, I was terrified it would spot us and start chasing us down. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen in this country!”
They’re not the first sightings in the area. Over the last 12 months, there have been multiple sightings reported and footprints found a few miles away in woodland around Abergele, though these are the first we’ve heard from Llanddulas and Betws-yn-Rhos.
The Mirror and The Sun recently published articles on the areas big cats, owing to the filming of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity programme at Gwrych Castle in Abergele.
Across the county back in July, a woman living in Conwy called police for help after she spotted a “black panther” sitting on her garden fence back in July. North Wales Police recently revealed details of the incident to Puma Watch under the Freedom of Information Act.
The incident log stated: “Informant states she saw a black panther on her fence on Saturday. Incident happened on Saturday – can be closed and tagged for the Rural Crime Team.”
Big cats such as pumas are solitary with a hunting range of dozens of miles. They’re mostly spotted in Snowdonia and the Clwydian hills but reports of sightings in urban locations some distance from these areas are becoming more frequent.
As seen with Llandundo’s now-famous goats, who have taken to roaming the town’s deserted streets during the coronavirus lockdowns, it’s likely that the reduced levels of human activity over the last year is encouraging big cats to roam further from the hills into more populated areas.
When big cats were banned as pets in the 1970s, it was legal to release them into the countryside to avoid expensive rehoming costs. Owners from across the UK travelled to areas like Wales to release their cats in the remote environment, where small but significant populations have thrived ever since.
Earlier this year, the Welsh Government responded to the recent spate of sightings and confirmed the steps they take to investigate any reported to them, including taking casts of paw prints.
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