A husband and wife driving through North Wales claim they came across a very large and unusual animal.
Andrea and her husband believe they saw a "big black cat" which they think could have been a puma.
The 'sighting' was on Wednesday afternoon (February 2) at around 3.45pm in the Colwyn Heights area of Colwyn Bay, according to Puma Watch North Wales.
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North Wales Live reports that Andrea, who spotted the animal along with her husband, told Puma Watch : “We were travelling up into Colwyn Bay heights to fetch an item we had just bought and as we were going further up a big black cat which was the same size as a Labrador ran in front of us.
“Both me and my husband saw it. It had a big black tail and moved across the road like a cat.”
According to the group, which keeps track of any possible sightings in North Wales, this most recent case was the first sighting reported in Colwyn Bay, although it said there had been "multiple reports of similar animals within a few miles over the last year.
Last year, a big cat investigator said he suspected there were two pumas on the loose in North Wales. Frank Tunbridge said at the time that the reason why there had been more sightings recently was twofold: "Firstly, winter is their mating season and they tend to throw more caution to the wind during this period.
"And secondly, the landscape is more bare at this time of year. There is less foliage which means less cover - and cover is everything for these elusive animals."
Pumas occupied territories of around 100 square miles, said Mr Tunbridge, who asserted that he "does not know for a fact that they are here."
However, he did have some thoughts on why there had been no clear footage of the animals in the area to date.
"They're so secretive and elusive, even in their native countries," he said.
"In North America, they're referred to as the 'Grey Ghost' by Native Americans due to their powers of concealment.
"Given that they're such large predators and are not native to these isles, I think you'd need an extraordinary presence of mind to be able to get out your phone and take a picture if you were to see one in the flesh (but) there's no substitute for observation."
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