Some dog walkers have reported spotting a “jet black panther” in a field near Brickfield Pond in Rhyl last month.
The encounter took place at around 7pm on Monday 29th August, and while the animal ran away, its presence has put the witness off returning to the location.
George told Puma Watch: “We were walking our dog through an overgrown country footpath between Ysgol Tir Morfa and Brickfield Pond in Rhyl (circled in the photo, where we walked down), when I noticed a large animal in the distance coming towards us.
“I stopped to put my dog back on her lead as I assumed it was another person walking their dog, but I saw no owner and the figure went completely still when it noticed us.
“When it turned to its side that’s when I knew it wasn’t a dog, it was jet black with pointed ears and moved very feline-like with a long cat-like tail.
“It bolted off into the field at the end of the path and we didn’t see it again, nor did we see anyone in the field.
“Seeing that with my own eyes… I won’t be walking down there again.”
It’s not the first time an animal matching the same description has been spotted in Rhyl. Last year, a couple walking on the beach spotted “a very large black panther” on the adjacent golf course. And just a few months ago back in April, a “black panther” was spotted hunting for rabbits and birds on Prestatyn beach. Sightings or related incidents have also occurred near Pontins, Dyserth and Meliden.
On the other side of Rhyl, sightings have recently been reported in Colwyn Bay, Abergele and Llanddulas.
Any further sightings can be reported to us via this form.
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.
Just last month, we shared a report of a big cat in Leamington Spa. While we focus on North Wales and the surrounding areas, we often receive reports from further afield and have shared sightings from as far out as Scotland and Cornwall.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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‘Big cat spotted in this area’ stickers now available from just 99p delivered!
This is great…. But it’s not a great idea to share exact locations, in case people all start showing up and scaring wildlife, or even looking to hurt a cat!