A household living close to Coed Pen Y Pigyn woods in Corwen have reported hearing a roar “identical to a puma’s” while letting their dog out in the evening.
Peter told Puma Watch: “We live next to Coed Pen Y Pigyn in Corwen and often hear animals at night, when letting our dog out for a wee. However, this time we heard what sounded like a loud, medium to high pitch roar from the woods.
“We compared the sound to YouTube sound effect videos of Pumas and Cougars and the growls and roars were identical.”
It’s the latest in a long series of reported big cats, both within Corwen itself and the wider Dee Valley. Back in June, a “large, black creature” ran towards a Corwen resident while she was hanging washing on the line.
At the time, Kim told Puma Watch: “Going out to the washing line alone, I saw a large black creature running toward me (there were sheep lying down behind me.)
“I was transfixed and just stared. It stopped when it saw me and turned around and ran toward the gate, not like a cat and nothing like a dog. I walked back as calmly as I could but I was shaking inside.
“I locked all the windows and left the washing outside, hoping it only comes out at night and thanked God I hadn’t gone the trees way.”
And around a year ago, Corwen hit the headlines after a suspected puma was caught on video walking on a railway line. This was within a few hundred metres of Coed Pen y Pigyn woods.”
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.
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.
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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Official Puma Watch North Wales mugs are now available from our store