- A top American tracker has found evidence to prove that
big cats are roaming the Carmarthenshire countryside.
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- Tom Brown Jnr, who runs a tracking and wilderness survival
school in New Jersey, has found paw prints of puma or panther like cats
in areas where recent sightings have been made.
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- Mr Brown found fresh tracks in the Brechfa forest near
Rhydcymerau.
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- He also found prints from a cat, estimated to weigh around
100lbs, in the garden of Ian Ward's home, in Capel Dewi. Mr Ward's pet
dog was recently killed by a panther-like animal.
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- Mr Brown, whose expertise was called in by BBC Wales's
Taro 9 current affairs programme, said: "It was the best case scenario.
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- "It was a recent kill site, not that long ago, not
a lot of rain, and the tracks were good and clear.
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- "You can't get clearer than that. It can only be
one thing - a large cat.''
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- Scientists at Swansea University say there have been
90 sightings in South Wales in the past year.
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- They believe pumas, panthers, and lynx, are roaming several
remote parts of Wales.
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- Sightings are very common around the margins of Brechfa
forest, but there have also been reports of big cat like animals being
spotted in the Ammanford, Cross Hands and Porthyrhyd areas.
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- Professor Alayne Street-Perrott, of Felingwm, whose horse
was attacked by what is believed to be a puma, thinks the cats are now
breeding.
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- "The most convincing evidence is the attack on our
horse,'' said Professor Street-Perrott, who works in the physical geography
department at the university.
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- "I've taken photos to America and shown them to
puma experts. They agree that the only thing that could have been responsible
for creating such a bite mark is a puma or lynx.''
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