A “black, athletic-looking” puma has been spotted this morning at around 6:30 am, on a track just outside Pontblyddyn in Flintshire.
While driving a van through the Hartsheath Estate, the animal was caught in the beam of the headlights. The driver, who provided their name but has asked to be kept anonymous, quickly stopped to look at the creature which they said: “had to be a puma”.
They told us: “I was driving my van thorough the farm estate outside Pontblyddyn along a track when my headlights picked up the puma crossing over the track around 30 yards ahead and then it moved over to my right.
“The first words out of my mouth were ‘What the f*ck is that?!‘
“It was about the size of a Labrador. I slammed on my brakes and stopped to look at it. I tried to shine my torch on it. It was stood about 30 yards away staring at me, its eyes glowing in the dark.
“It was black, athletic-looking, had to be a puma. It just stood and stared at me for around sixty seconds before sleeking away into the darkness.”
second sighting in the area this week
The location is only around one mile from Pontybodkin, where a puma was caught on camera back in November. Then on December 20th, a big cat “at least the size of a springer spaniel” was spotted just 100 metres from the first sighting.
And earlier this week, another local resident, Andy, got in touch via our Facebook and told us: “I seen a big cat the other night riding home from a friends near Pontybodkin. It was huge and it was fast.
“Definitely was a puma or panther. Big black thing with a massive tail.”
The history of sightings in the area goes back further. In 2013, a resident of nearby Treuddyn spotted an all-black big cat moving through a paddock at 2:35am, while in 2006, Tiger King star Carole Baskin wrote on Big Cat Rescue’s website: “Earlier this year there were confirmed reports and prints of a puma near Treuddyn and Leeswood near Mold.”
Remember, you can report any sightings directly to us via this page, but never approach a big cat to take a photo.
I trespass on that land on a regular basis, and I’m now going to keep my eyes open for a big cats as well. It says it is closed off for shooting which I presumed to be pheasants however who knows?