A dog walker has reported a close encounter with a large, dark-coloured feline they suspect to be a puma in a forest area above the North Wales coastal town of Abergele. The sighting took place at around 7:45 PM on Wednesday, 8th April 2026, when the witness was out walking with two dogs.
Joanne told Puma Watch: “I was walking with my two dogs when a large cat ran up the hill & onto the path in front of me approx 20 metres away. It was approx the size of a Collie dog. Sleek/slim feline build with a very long tail. Colour dark greyish. Couldn’t see head as ran directly downhill away from us. Ran fast with a distinctive feline gait. I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo.”
The forested hillsides above Abergele form part of a network of ancient woodland and limestone escarpments that rise steeply from the town, providing dense cover and abundant prey for a large predator. The area includes woodlands such as Coed y Gopa and Gwrych Castle Wood, set within rural farmland predominantly used for sheep farming. This is not the first big cat report from the area — a “large, black and muscular” cat was previously spotted in fields between Betws-yn-Rhos and Abergele, and a puma was photographed near Gwrych Castle.
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.
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.
Any further sightings can be reported to us via our online form.
This sighting has been added to our interactive map.
*Due to a technical issue, sightings between January 2023 and June 2026 are not displayed on the map. Going forward, all sightings will be recorded on this map system and we are working to import the missing sightings.