A "big cat" which was reportedly "bigger than a Dalmatian" was spotted on a major road.
The woman who reported the sighting was a passenger in a car and claims she spotted the mysterious creature on Sunday, August 21. She claims the animal was sat at the side of the A550 Welsh Road at its junction with Ledsham Hall Lane near Little Sutton, reports CheshireLive.
The creature is believed to have been a lynx and Izzy, who did not provide her surname, reported the sighting to Watch North Wales which is a group set up to document sightings and raise awareness of suspected big cats. She said it was "brown with hints of black and pointy ears."
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Izzy told Puma Watch North Wales: “I was a passenger in a car and as we turned onto the Welsh Road I saw the big cat sat in the road against the bushes. I held my view for about five seconds and the animal looked just a bit bigger than a Dalmatian.
"It was brown with hints of black and pointy ears. It was sat about 15 meters away from any cars.”
The latest sighting comes two months after a "fairly large, black" animal was reported near Blacon, just outside Chester. One person reported seeing a "streamlined" animal on Sealand Road, near to the Texaco garage.
The commuter, Davidson, was driving home from their place of work in Chester at around 12.30am last Saturday (June 18). They reported that the animal ran across the road and into the fields nearby.
In 2021, no fewer than 20 sightings of a "big cat" or a "puma" were reported to Puma Watch North Wales from the Cheshire area. These sightings included footage of an alleged puma stalking through fields in Frodsham, a big cat on the Chester meadows, and another pouncing in front of a car on the Tarvin roundabout.
In February, the UK Government set out the steps it takes to investigate such reports, after the Welsh Government announced that reports of wild big cats are "taken seriously and investigated thoroughly."
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), said: "If Natural England (NE) were presented with credible information to suggest there was a big cat living wild and posing a threat to agriculture (such as predating livestock), it would work with Defra to take appropriate action. Evidence would be assessed on a case by case basis.
"Natural England would analyse any evidence presented to them, at first internally, and take expert external advice as and when it’s needed. Likewise, if NE were presented with credible information to suggest there was a big cat living wild and posing a threat to public health and safety, it would report the matter to the local police.
"Rare cases of escapees, such as a Lynx from Dartmoor Zoo in July 2016, tend to involve the local authority as the escape is likely to have resulted from a breach of the keeper’s Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 Licence or Zoo Licence. In all cases reported to Natural England in recent years, there has been no credible evidence supplied that would justify any action by Defra/Home Office/police."
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