Fifteen big cat sightings reported in Wales over five years

Welsh records show a steady stream of “big cat” reports, but not the kind of evidence that would settle the question. Between January 2020 and July 2025, authorities in Wales received 15 sightings, with complaints spread across Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Powys, Swansea, Denbighshire and Carmarthenshire. The paper trail is clear enough to show how the reports moved through police files; it is far thinner when it comes to proving that an exotic predator was ever really there.

Several of the most specific reports came with place names and dates. Dyfed-Powys Police logged a leopard sighting in Cwmtwrch, Swansea, on 16 January 2023. A panther-like animal was reported between Capel Bangor and Aberystwyth in Ceredigion on 30 May 2023. On 13 May 2025, a Canadian lynx was reportedly seen in Pont Henri, Carmarthenshire. Another report, a puma-sized cat at Fairy Falls in Trefnant, Denbighshire, on 25 October 2023, was later ruled by North Wales Police not to be a real cat.

The handling of the reports was often restrained. In cases where no evidence was supplied, no one followed up, no other sightings emerged or no livestock attack was reported, officials took no further action. That pattern matters: it shows how Welsh policing treats these claims as potential incidents to record, not automatic proof of a roaming predator. The Welsh government publishes freedom of information responses openly, and older disclosures are moved to the National Archives web archive, making the trail easier to inspect than the sightings themselves.

The phenomenon, however, is hardly new. BBC reporting in 2003 said police in Wales were seeking action over big-cat sightings, while an expert called for a government inquiry. Earlier reports had already described repeated panther-like or puma-like claims in Wales, including attention to a reported attack in Carmarthenshire. The same long shadow reaches beyond Wales. In 2013, Sky News reported that scientists had identified a Canadian lynx found in Devon from museum remains, a cat said to have been shot around 1903 after killing two dogs and described as the first historic big cat from Britain.

That mix of thin documentation, recurring memory and local lore explains why the stories keep returning. Wales Online reported in January 2026 that four new large black-cat sightings were logged in North Wales in 2025. For all the enthusiasm around the mystery, the records still show a familiar divide: frequent claims, cautious official responses and very little hard evidence.