A motorist has reported spotting a “large black feline” they believe could have been a puma while driving near Nercwys in Flintshire. Last week, we shared news of an encounter of an animal matching the same description in Nercwys Forest – and North Wales Police have since shared news of four sheep being killed nearby.
This latest sighting occurred at around 7:45 PM on Wednesday 14th September and was around a mile from the forest at Nercwys village.
The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, told Puma Watch: “As I was driving my car towards Mold from the direction of Eryrys, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a large black feline figure darting across the adjacent road junction (Ffordd Pentre Bach).
“I must stress, it was dark and I was travelling quickly (around 45-50mph) so I wasn’t able to process what I had seen at the time but my initial reaction was that it was too large to be a domestic cat and it didn’t look anything like a dog.
“I have been thinking about it ever since and I can’t reconcile what I saw to be anything other than a puma or other type of big cat, particularly as I do follow news of potential big cat sightings in the area.”
The previous sighting in Nercwys Forest took place around 7:30 AM on Saturday 6th August. Lucy told Puma Watch: “About 50 yards ahead off the path in the forest we seen a very large jet black cat-like animal staring at us. Round head and pointed ears.
“We stopped still as the dog spotted it and it quickly ran away”
Any further sightings can be reported to us via this form.
It wasn’t the first time an animal matching the same description has been spotted in Nercwys Forest, a particularly large woodland with many areas inaccessible to humans. In February 2021, a walker spotted a “jet black” creature cross the path ahead of her.
At the time, witness Sophie told Puma Watch: “I was walking through the foot trail and stopped for a drink and was looking down the footpath and all I seen was this big cat-like figure literally run across the path, it was jet black with a long tail and it was too big to be a dog or a cat.
“It was clear it was a large animal with a long tail.”
Historically a heather moorland, a conifer forest was planted at Nercwys in 1965 as part of the post-war effort to become self-sufficient in timber as a nation. Since then, much work has gone into improving the forest for wildlife by creating more varied habitats within the plantation.
Patches of woodland have been cleared and thinned to create more grassy areas, attracting ground-nesting birds, flowers and butterflies.
Nearby, a woman and her boyfriend were enjoying a “random” trip to Moel Famau in the dead of night when they found themselves fleeing from a “huge” cat, with the woman telling Puma Watch: “I’d never ran so fast in my life!”
We’ve had dozens of sightings reported across Flintshire, with many happening on Halkyn Mountain – both just a few miles away – and one was spotted nearby in Mold. Big cats have also been reported in Connah’s Quay.
Nercwys Forest is also near to Pontybodkin, where multiple big cats have been spotted including two caught on video.
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.
