A couple from Camelford couldn’t believe their luck when they stumbled across what they believe could be evidence of a ‘big cat’ in Wilsey Woods, near Hallworthy.

Jay Jones had been out walking their dog Ice when they discovered the ‘print’. Ice had been sniffing the trail when she suddenly went on “high alert”, returning to Jay’s side. He went to investigate and found the unusually large paw print clearly visible in the recently fallen snow.

Rowenna explained: “Jay went out to walk our dog Ice in the Wilsey Woods, (near the Wilsey Down Pub) in Hallworthy. He was planning on giving Ice a good run in the snow as she loves to play in the snow.

“He was initially going along the main track, but then decided to go off the beaten track, to do some exploring and let Ice have a sniff about.

“He was looking at all the different tracks in the snow such as the deer, rabbit, mice etcetera then came across what he thought were some big dog tracks, but there were no human footprints near it. On further inspection he realised that they were too big for a dog.

“He said Ice, our dog, had sniffed the paw prints and had suddenly gone on high alert and stopped running and playing and was stuck by his side walking tentatively, as if she was interested or worried, I don’t really know but being careful and quiet I suppose.

“He said the tracks came out from the bushes where he was, across the main track and back into the woods on the other side.”

He immediately snapped a picture and sent it to his wife Rowenna. At first the couple thought it was a bit of fun but upon further research found theirs was not the first ‘sighting’.

Rowenna said: “It was at first a bit of a fun and we made a few jokes about a big cat but then on Googling and further inspection we came to the realisation that they could actually be big cat prints.

Panther

“Possibly a panther but that’s just our opinion as I’ve heard of sightings around the area but never in the woods before.”

Rowenna posted the images to their dog walking business’ Facebook page where it gained a lot of attention. She said the possibility that a big cat could have been lurking in the woods was both exciting and scary: “Once we realised that they could be real tracks it was quite exciting but also scary as he could have been right next to it, the prints looked very fresh. 

“When he got home, we looked at the pictures again and sent them to a few friends to see what they thought, again a few of them just made jokes but my mum did think they looked like big cat prints. 

“Seemed very strange though as the prints were bigger than my husband hands and feet, and on one of the pictures it seems to show the v shape that a cat has when it sits on its back legs?”

She added: “Still can’t believe that they could be real prints from a big cat in those woods! Wow!”