Three members of the public have contacted us to report separate sightings of a black big cat around Rhyl and Prestatyn, with one of the witnesses saying they believe it could be a puma.
These sightings range from August 10th to September 21st – though they’re far from the first sightings we’ve had reported in the area. And in the middle of the sightings below, a “jet black panther” was spotted at Rhyl’s Brickfields Pond in a report we previously shared.
Sighting One
At around 9:45pm on Wednesday 10th August, Michael Parker spotted a black big cat at Lyons Lido Beach Caravan Park in Prestatyn.
He told Puma Watch: “I was leaving my caravan to go sea fishing on the beach.
“60 feet away I saw the big cat walking out from between 2 caravans.
“It stopped walking mid-stride when it saw me & I also stopped & stood still.
“It stared at me & its tail was arched upwards.
“Lights were behind it so I could see its silhouette.
“I tried to walk back to my caravan to tell my wife & at this point the big cat walked off in the direction of Frith.” (where a “black panther” was recently spotted hunting birds and rabbits)
Sighting Two
At around 4:15pm on Monday 19th September, Jackie was walking at The Cob in Rhyl, across the train line from Rhyl Marine Lake, when she encountered a black big cat she believes could have been a puma
She told Puma Watch: “Spotted a large all Black cat-like animal with orange eyes eating something in the field close to the entrance of the Cob pathway.
“The animal loudly hissed when it noticed us.
“We immediately turned and left as we were walking our dogs.”
SIghting Three
Two days after Jackie’s sighting, Ash from Prestatyn contacted us to report a big cat with: “big bright eyes in my garden, by Prestatyn beach.”
This encounter took place at around 9:30pm on Wednesday 21st September.
Brickfields sighting
As previously shared by us earlier this month, some dog walkers reported spotting a “jet black panther” in a field near Brickfield Pond in Rhyl.
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 wasn’t the first time an animal matching the same description had 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.
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.
