He described the moment as “quite scary” and something he “would never have believed” had he not seen it himself.
Peter Harding, from Penyffordd, Flintshire, said the encounter happened at around 9.45am on Tuesday, January 20, as he was driving back from Penley towards Bangor-on-Dee on the A525.
“I saw this absolutely ginormous black cat run across the road in front of me,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, ever. It was definitely, 100 per cent, a cat.”
Peter said the animal was around 15 to 50 feet away, had a long, muscular body, thick legs, and a large, heavy tail.
“It was completely jet black, there wasn’t any colour on it at all,” he said. “It almost looked unreal. The first thing I thought was, ‘What on earth is that?’ It didn’t look like it was meant to be there.”
He said the animal ran quickly across the road before disappearing up an embankment and into nearby woodland.
“I slowed the car to try and see where it went, but it vanished,” he said. “I was in a bit of shock, really. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.”
After returning home, Peter said he researched large cat sightings and was surprised to discover reports of similar encounters all over North Wales.
“I honestly wouldn’t have believed it if someone else had told me,” he said. “Before this, I’d probably have thought they were mistaken, maybe a dog or something. But after seeing it myself, I’m completely convinced.”
Peter later shared his experience on a Bangor-on-Dee community Facebook page, where three other people reported seeing something similar, including a sighting in Ellesmere days later.
“It must be the same animal,” he said. “Ellesmere and Bangor-on-Dee aren’t far apart. I can’t imagine there’s more than one.”
Peter said he had no reason to exaggerate what he saw: “I wouldn’t make something like this up. This was real, I’m still a bit in shock now.”
While he said the experience left him feeling “privileged” to witness something so rare, he also expressed concern for public safety.
“If I’d been walking my dog and saw that, I’d have been petrified,” he said. “You worry about dog walkers and livestock. I think people need to be made aware so they can be cautious.”
Peter has since reported the sighting to the online big-cat monitoring group Puma Watch North Wales and said he is considering contacting police to log the incident.
“There must be footprints where it went,” he added. “I know exactly where it ran into the woods.”
There is no confirmed evidence of wild pumas living in North Wales, but reports of so-called “big cat” sightings surface from time to time across the UK.
Peter added: “It sounds mad, I know but I know what I saw. I’d never have believed it unless I’d seen it with my own eyes.”