A couple have captured footage of what they believe to be a black panther prowling the Welsh countryside.
David Davis and his wife, Natalie, were enjoying a day out kayaking on the Llangollen canal in Denbighshire last week (16 October) when they made the dramatic sighting.
While heading back, at around 5pm, 48-year-old David was shocked to spot what he believes could be a black panther.
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“I spotted a cat in front of a gate in a field through the trees to my left,” David, from Willenhall, West Midlands, told Need To Know.
“The trees were in the way a little and initially I was confused as to how I’d seen a cat so far away.
“It was up at the top of the field, about 400 metres away.
“Then, as I came to a gap in the trees, I had to stop and get stable in my boat to look properly.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes as I was absolutely sure I was looking at a black panther.
“Against the gate of the farm field it was standing about half way up and about half was across, about the size of a large Alsatian dog.
“It was stood side-on, so I had a really clear profiled view.
“I called my wife to come and see, and she instantly said, ‘Holy s**t it’s a big cat’.”
At Natalie’s urging, David took out his phone to film, though he was unable to get a clear shot.
The footage, taken from a distance and zoomed in, shows a large black-coloured animal with a long tail moving through a field.
The duo watched the animal for “two or three minutes” as it “zig-zagged down and then back up the field”.
Afterwards, David said the beast disappeared into the forest.
Rick Minter, who hosts the podcast Big Cat Conversations, commented on the footage: “I can understand why the witnesses checked and filmed this cat.
“I have a domestic black cat and watch it in our neighbouring fields – this Llangollen cat seems bigger than mine.
“However, I don’t feel it’s the scale of a black leopard, which are the main cats described across Britain, and are also called panthers.
“It’s tricky to gauge the scale in the Llangollen footage because of the distance and the short video clip.
“Personally I feel the scale is more towards a domestic cat, albeit a larger one, than an adult black leopard.
“I don’t believe it could take down a deer, when I look at its apparent scale and its form.
“However, the region certainly yields credible sightings – I had several incidents of cats matching black leopards described to me at a visit to the Denbigh & Flint Show in 2023, when we produced a podcast episode from there.
“In some cases people’s dogs react as well, mainly nervously, during an encounter.
“So dogs as well as people see can sense these cats.
“Black leopards are stealthy and elusive, and people rarely see them in their native lands.”
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