SIGHTING: ‘Puma’ jumps over fence in Chirk McDonald’s car park

A big cat has been spotted in the car park of a McDonald’s drive-through near Chirk, at the A483 / A5 junction known as the Halton Roundabout.

Georgia told Puma Watch North Wales: “An extremely large cat, the size of a dog, jumped over a fence at the back of McDonald’s car park into the wooded area.

“I’m sure my partner & I can’t be the only ones who saw this.” (UPDATE: Within an hour of us sharing this sighting, Dan got in touch to report another sighting, which occurred just 17 hours later and matching the same description, just a few miles away in Oswestry.)

Georgia said the animal was black and believes it might have been a puma. The sighting occured at around 8PM on Friday 16th April. If you think you may have seen the same animal, report it via this form.

Plans were recently submitted to Wrexham Council to construct a drive-through coffee shop on the wooded land adjacent to McDonald’s car park, which this animal was seen to jump into. Wrexham.com reports the development would also feature a car park and electric car charging station.

As part of the planning permission process, Puma Watch has made a representation requesting the developers ensure the proposed site and surrounding woodlands is not home to a big cat.

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.

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.

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.