A big cat sighting has been reported this week between Pontybodkin and Llanfynydd in Flintshire. The animal was spotted on the old railway line which runs through Wood Pit Nature Reserve, roughly halfway between the two villages where the path is surrounded by a densely wooded valley.
Toby Matthews, a hypnotherapist living in Caergwrle, was using a torch to walk his dog when he encountered the big cat at around 8:30pm on Wednesday night. He said: “I was going along sending a Snapchat, it was a bit misty and spooky and I just wanted to show my partner, so I was actually looking at my phone screen when I first spotted something big moving.
“I looked up and had a sudden moment of shock, almost like when you wake up suddenly from a dream feeling like you’re falling. Maybe 50 or 60 feet away was an enormous black cat looking right at me. I had my phone in one hand and both the dog’s lead and the torch in the other, so when I looked up I managed to drop the torch. I picked it back up and looked around again.
“It had moved to the opposite side of the path and wasn’t really moving at all. It seemed hesitant of me and Tilly (the dog) and I think it cowered slightly when we approached with the torch. I’d guess the torch shining directly at it meant it couldn’t really see us, only hear me and Tilly. I could tell the dog was scared and she started pulling back towards Pontybodkin, I took a photo then turned around and quickly walked back. I wanted to start running but was worried it’d give chase.”
The area has a history of sightings. Back 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.”
Toby continued: “I’m convinced that it was a puma, it was about two or three times the size of my little Labrador. It was probably around the same size as some of the jaguars at the zoo, and I think it was completely black. I heard about big cats being spotted around Mold and Leeswood a few years ago, and we’re right next to Leeswood here. It’s a really deserted and rural area and I rarely pass anyone else on walks, there’s thick woodland either side of the path where animals can probably stay undisturbed for years.
“Since the clocks went back it’s already dark by the time I finish work, I’d got a bit fed up with walking around housing estates for the streetlights so this week I found a torch and started going up and down the old railway line again.
“This was the third time I walked it in the dark, it was just me and Tilly and we’d been walking for maybe 20 minutes when it happened. I’ll definitely be sticking to the villages from now on and I’ll never be going down the old railway line on my own again. Sometimes you get grass snakes dropping out of trees down there, which can take some getting used to, but this has really shaken me up.”
When exotic pets were banned in the 1970’s, many owners released them into the wild. It was completely legal to do this for several years until another law was passed to close the loophole. Big cats are well suited to the Welsh climate and terrain and as it was important to keep them away from humans, big cat owners from across large areas of England may have travelled to Wales to release their beloved pet in what they thought would be a better environment for it to prosper.
Small populations are reported in Snowdonia and in the Clwydian Hills, and with the solitary animals roaming a large territory, this could well be why so many sightings are reported in the villages below, such as Leeswood, Treuyddn and Pontybodkin.
Remember, you can report any sightings directly to us via this page, but never approach a big cat to take a photo.
Image credit: Dave Jones / Google Maps
