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Another encounter with one of Chester’s big cats has been reported by some dog walkers, who spotted what they believe could be a puma or a panther in Caldy Valley Nature Park between Huntington and Great Boughton (near Sainsbury’s and the Caldy Valley Retail Park).
Robin Carter told Puma Watch: “We were walking our dog in the evening and the dog had stopped behind us.
“We heard some leaves rustling and saw a black big cat. It was too big to be a normal cat or dog. It was lying down behind the trees in an overgrown area just off the path.
“We stopped for around 30 seconds to see what it was and although it was dark, we used a torch which made it clear to see that it was a big cat like a puma or a panther.”
The sighting occurred just two days ago, at around 7:45 PM on Saturday 1st October. The location is adjacent to Chester Meadows, where multiple previous sightings have taken place, separated only by the River Dee.
It’s not the first encounter in Caldy Valley Nature Park. Back in April 2021, a member of the public reported a frightening encounter with a ‘growling and snarling’ creature while walking their dog there.
Last month, we shared a report of a big cat suspected to be a puma on the roof of Chester Market. A man “out drinking” claims to have spotted the animal at around 7PM on Saturday 3rd September.
He told Puma Watch: “I was out drinking with the boys in the market in Chester. You have to go outside and into another old building to get to the toilets, and when I went around the corner where the toilets are, I spotted something moving on the roof opposite that made me look up from my phone.
“It was sniffing around behind the back of the wall so at first I thought it was a dog on the roof for some reason. It must have heard me because it lifted its head and looked down at me, then immediately turned and ran away.”
Also last month, a member of the public captured a video showing what they think could be a big cat in Handbridge.
And a few months ago, a motorist spotted an animal matching the same description just a couple of miles away on Sealand Road. It’s one of many similar sightings around Chester in recent years.
Last year, we shared a report of another motorist spotting a suspected panther stalking sheep, just a few miles away near the M56’s Chester Services. Additionally, a lorry driver spotted a big cat crossing the same road behind Costco Chester.
Just a few weeks ago, big cats were spotted in rural Cheshire at Bickerton Hill and Bunbury. And towards the end of last month, a lynx was reported sitting at the side of the A550 Welsh Road.
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 during the pandemic encouraged big cats to roam further from the hills into more populated areas. Despite human activity returning to near pre-pandemic levels, it seems many big cats are now happy to stay in their new territory.
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.
Last 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.
A visitor to a Snowdonia animal rescue centre back in 1994 recently claimed he was introduced to four puma kittens. He said: “I strongly suspect that these were released into the wild as they had no paperwork and no money to feed or house them.
“They certainly weren’t there six months later.”
Any further sightings can be reported to us via this form.
Could there be an eye in the first picture