Over the course of 2022 several Cheshire residents claimed to have spotted a mysterious 'big cat' across the county. The 'large black animal' has cropped up in different areas this year, with eight sightings reported to Puma Watch North Wales.
This is not the first time that the mystery animal, claimed to be a puma, has been seen, with 20 sightings reported in 2021.
This year the various sightings have included a large paw print in the mid, a 'black, shadowy animal' that 'petrified' a pet dog in a village, and a puma spotted on the roof by a man 'out drinking with the boys'.
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Earlier this year, the UK government revealed to CheshireLive that "in all cases reported to Natural England in recent years, there has been no credible evidence supplied that would justify any action.
Here are each of the eight sightings of the 'big cat' in the county this year explained by Cheshire Live.
The Cheshire Cat of the Ince Marshes
There have been three sightings of a 'black puma' on the Ince Marshes reported by Puma Watch North Wales between December 2020 and January 2022.
This year, the sighting involved a dog walker discovering a large paw print in the mud after spotting what they called a 'black puma' the previous month.
The Ashley big cat
A 'big cat' was sighted in the village of Ashley, near Manchester Airport back in March when a local resident reported seeing a 'black, shadowy animal' whilst walking to the pub.
The resident, Cassy, initially thought that the animal she saw may have been her neighbour's, until she encountered the same neighbour with the dog. The neighbour told Cassy that she had also seen the 'black cat', and that the dog was now 'petrified' of going to the end of the garden.
The Sealand Road ‘fairly large’ animal
No further Cheshire sightings were reported by Puma Watch North Wales until June, when a commuter travelling from Chester spotted a 'black, fairly large animal’ near Blacon on the A494.
The commuter reported seeing a 'streamlined' animal that 'definitely wasn’t a fox' on Sealand Road, near to the Texaco garage at around 12.30am on Saturday, June 18.
Davidson Drakes-Jarrett told Puma Watch North Wales: “I was driving home from Chester, my place of work heading towards A494 when on Sealand Road about 30 metres after Texaco garage and 120 metres ahead of me a black fairly large animal ran across the road into the farm.
“It definitely wasn’t a fox and it ran across so quick I couldn’t really pick out any features or have time to catch a photo. All I could make out was its body that was fairly big and streamlined.”
The Bickerton Hill and Bunbury ‘black pumas’
The following month, two separate sightings of ‘black pumas’ were reported to Puma Watch in areas no more than four miles and five days apart. The first occurred around 9am on July 12.
Puma Watch reports that ‘April’ spotted a 'small big cat' on a field behind houses in Bunbury. Five days later an animal 'matching the same description', was spotted by ‘Lee’ at the National Trust car park at Bickerton Hill.
He told Puma Watch North Wales: “As we were driving along the track to the car park the animal crossed the track in front of us.”
Welsh Road big cat ‘looked just a bit bigger than a Dalmatian’
In August, a woman reported seeing an animal 'a bit bigger than a Dalmatian' sat on the side of the A550 Welsh Road on the Wirral. She was travelling as a passenger in a car when she spotted the 'big cat' at around 12.30pm on Sunday, August 21 at the junction with Ledsham Hall Lane near Little Sutton.
The spotter, 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 5 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.”
Man 'out drinking with the boys' spots big cat on roof of Chester Market
The following month, a man who was 'out drinking with the boys' claimed to have spotted a puma on a roof in Chester city centre. James Davies told Puma Watch North Wales that he saw an animal that was 'far too big to be a dog' near Chester Market at around 7pm on September 3.
He had been out with his friends at the market before heading outside to get to the toilets. He said it was then he saw 'something moving on the roof' opposite him.
He told Puma Watch: “I was out drinking with the boys in the market in Chester. You have to go outside and into another old building to get to the toilets and, when I went around the corner where the toilets are, I spotted something moving on the roof opposite that made me look up from my phone.
“It was sniffing around behind the back of the wall so at first I thought it was a dog on the roof for some reason. It must have heard me because it lifted its head and looked down at me, then immediately turned and ran away.
“I ran to the corner and looked along the roof towards the car park but there was no sign of it, it had disappeared.
“When it looked at me I could clearly see it was a cat of some kind. It was far too big to be a dog, it had short pointy ears and yellow eyes and its face looked exactly like a puma. The evening sun caught against its coat and I could see it was quite silky, like a cat, and it had a big curling tail."
He managed to snap a picture of the animal but not until after it had turned around to run away. James then went to show 'the boys' but said they were 'sceptical'.
Stealthy Handbridge cat
Later that month, a big cat was reported 'right near Chester Meadows'.
Dean Waring recorded footage of the supposed ‘big cat’ on Wednesday 21st September at the former Victoria Bowling Green in Handbridge, close to Chester Meadows, a hotspot for sightings.
He told Puma Watch: “I tried to approach it and as soon as I climbed the fence it stealthily fled through the grass”.
Another Chester Meadows sighting
In October, another encounter with a supposed ‘big cat’ was reported by dog walkers at Caldy Valley Nature Park, Great Boughton.
Robin Carter told Puma Watch: “We were walking our dog in the evening and the dog had stopped behind us.
“We heard some leaves rustling and saw a black big cat. It was too big to be a normal cat or dog. It was lying down behind the trees in an overgrown area just off the path.
“We stopped for around 30 seconds to see what it was and although it was dark, we used a torch which made it clear to see that it was a big cat like a puma or a panther.”
The sighting occurred across the Dee from Chester Meadows.
Three-foot high Costco cat
Later that month, a couple visiting the vets at Chester Gates Business Park spotted a 'very large black cat', nearly three-foot high, as it dived through bushes in broad daylight.
Lee Morris told Puma Watch: “Just left Chester Vets travelling through the car park when my partner saw what she saw to be a very large black cat that went into one of the bushes.
“It must have been about 30 inches high.”
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