A holidaymaker staying in the Pant Llwyd area of Llan Ffestiniog has reported spotting a large black cat they say could be a panther. The animal had a distinctively long tail and was prowling along the edge of a sheep field as darkness fell on the evening of 18th April 2026.
Stephanie told Puma Watch: “It was dusk and I was looking out the window of our Air BnB cottage while drying my hair, towards the sheep field opposite, which had lots of baby lambs in. I noticed a big black cat with a very long tail skirt the edge of the field. The sheep that it had scared ran away from it quickly. I couldn’t get a photo because it was moving away from me up the field.”
Llan Ffestiniog sits in the southern reaches of Snowdonia National Park, a landscape long associated with big cat activity in North Wales. The nearby town of Blaenau Ffestiniog has previously featured in Puma Watch records, including a 2022 report of a wild camper near Bethania who described a pair of golden eyes reflected in his head torch, with the nearest prior sightings involving a “tawny coloured puma” linked to livestock killings around Beddgelert. The rugged upland terrain of this area, with its isolated valleys and abundant sheep farming, is considered well-suited to supporting large solitary predators.
Under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976, keeping big cats such as pumas and panthers as pets became illegal in the UK. It is widely believed that many owners — unwilling or unable to meet the cost of rehoming their animals — travelled to remote areas of Wales to release them into the countryside, where small but significant populations are thought to have thrived ever since.
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