A man working at Glastonbury Festival has reported spotting a “huge black animal” he believes was a puma running across a field and into a small area of woodland “known as the Glade”.
Reg Baker said it was too big to be a dog and its running movement was different. The day after the sighting, one of his colleagues pointed at a “dark shape” running up a hill opposite them, which Reg says could have been “a very similar animal if not the same one.” He said big cats living in the surrounding countryside is common knowledge among some workers and claims the vast size of the festival could allow a big cat trapped inside to go undetected.
The first encounter happened around 8 PM on Monday 13th June and was reported to us a few days later. It matches the description of an animal spotted in Glastonbury town back in May 2018 and earlier this year, Somerset Live published details of dozens of similar sightings across the county. Though we usually focus on North Wales, we often recieve reports from further afield when people search for how to report sightings. We welcome these reports and have previously shared encounters from Scotland, Cornwall, Manchester and Leamington Spa.
Reg told Puma Watch: “I am part of the build crew at Glastonbury and have been here for a while now ahead of the festival opening. After I had finished work on Monday I was walking around the site when I spotted a large black animal running free across the field. At first, I thought it was a dog, but then I realised it was well too big to be a dog and its running movement was different. It definitely wasn’t a deer or any other kind of animal I’m familiar with. From the shape, I’m pretty sure it was a puma. It ran into a thick area of trees known as the Glade.
“The next day one of my colleagues pointed at a dark shape running up Pennard Hill opposite us and into the trees at the top. It was too far away to be sure but I think it was a very similar animal if not the same one.
“Talking about it with other people on site I have found a few people who say they have seen big cats while working here over the years. Some don’t believe me but some say they’re common knowledge among the long-term workers and generally harmless, either hiding or leaving when the crowds arrive.
“Dog walkers can’t access the site anymore as it has been completely fenced off for weeks. I’m not sure if a big cat would be able to get over the fence, there are probably places where they’d be able to, but Glasto is so big it’s possible a big cat could go undetected while trapped inside.”
Members of the Puma Watch community have suggested on Facebook the animal could be the so-called ‘Beast of Exmoor’.
Big cats such as pumas are solitary with a hunting range of dozens of miles. In North Wales, 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. It’s likely similar patterns of movement exist across the rest of the UK, with big cat populations centred on remote locations like national parks.
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.
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 sightings should be reported via this form on our website.
