After seeing reports of big cat sightings near Whitford and on the A548 ‘coast road’ near Talacre, another local resident has been in touch to share an encounter that took place around 9pm one Sunday evening in early November 2017 – along with screenshots of an anxious conversation they had at the time.
Walking with a friend near Mostyn Docks, they came within 40ft of a big cat, which began to follow them and forced them to run – and put them off returning for months. Around a week later at around 10-11pm, his nephew’s dog, a large mixed breed around the size of a Labrador: “chased something into the trees and come out cut to f**k.”
He said: “It looked exactly like a lynx, even had the little tufts on the ears. We didn’t report it because we felt like people would just take the Mickey out of it.”
It’s clear from the screenshots below the two friends agonised over how and if to report their sighting, fearing the public were at risk, but like many who encounter big cats, worried they wouldn’t be believed or taken seriously. Despite worrying they’d be to blame if someone was attacked and considering phoning the police, they did not report the sighting until this week.
We asked North Wales Police about the recent surge in sightings and asked them to clarify in which circumstances the public should report pumas or animals in the area. Unfortunately, and despite warning the public to stay away from one big cat in 2018, the police force refused to be drawn on this and so we’re unable to reassure our readers their fears will be taken seriously.
A spokesperson for North Wales Police told Puma Watch: “We have had no reports, there are no ‘campaigns / operations’ on this subject and we won’t be commenting further.”
These screenshots show the two friends trying to figure out what to do back in 2017 before seeing the recent stories of similar experiences. The map below shows the exact location of the sightings, described as: “It was in the woods next to Mostyn Dock where the fishermen store their boats. There’s a new path that goes through right next to Warwick Chemicals by the bridge, it takes you straight through the wood there.”
They told us: “The big cat that’s been seen on the coast road A548. I think I know what area it’s in. I was walking with a friend a couple of years ago when we saw it, we were within 40ft of it, we walked slowly down a lane and it started to follow.
“We ran and never saw it again, but only a week later my nephew’s dog ran into the same woods and came back all cut up, like something had attacked him.”
“We were there around 9pm, I’d finished work, been to see my kids and went down late. We didn’t go back down there for months after that night.”
“We had gone to walk down the path at the back of Warwick Chemicals from the cob, the path came to a dead end so we turned back. It’s on the boat yard on the way back that we saw it, I think if we had carried on we would not have known it was there because I think it was just following us. Looked more curious of who/what we were than out to attack.”
The location of this sighting is within the same two-mile radius as recent sightings at Talacre, Abakhan and Whitford and is shown in yellow on the map below.
As all these are within the same two-mile radius, and as pumas are usually solitary animals roaming a territory of around 30 square miles, it’s highly likely it’s the same animal being spotted each time. This radius is only five miles from a sighting near Pentre Halkyn back in October.
You can use the report a sighting form here to quickly let us know about any big cat encounters, recent or historical, and to upload any pictures or videos you might have!
i like cat
Where’s the pics of the mauled/cut up dog that was attacked ?