RECOVERED OLD FILE
REPORT NO.1
A fresh sighting of a puma-like beast which savagely killed a dog at the weekend was reported today, police said.
Police have warned farmers to be vigilant after Mike Shepherd, 62, of Llangadog, near Llandovery, mid Wales, came face to face with the big cat on Sunday after setting out to find his neighbour's missing whippet.
He discovered the big cat, with blood over its face, standing over the dog's lifeless form, and ran inside and alerted the police.
A new sighting of the cat was reported yesterday at a milk processing plant.
The latest sighting was reported today in Ffairfach - around 10 miles from Llangadog, said a Dyfed Powys Police spokesman.
"It was seen at around mid-day about 10 or 12 miles south of the original location," he said.
"Officers responded and nothing was seen."
The spokesman said the sighting today was reported by a milk tanker driver who was collecting milk from a farm.
Police had now changed tactics in their hunt for the beast - they had switched from static observation in Llangadog to a mobile armed response with armed officers in patrol cars.
This was because of all the reported sightings of the cat and the large geographical area.
Police marksmen were called to Llangadog Creamery, mid Wales, in the early hours on Wednesday morning after a lorry driver reported seeing the cat.
Managers at the Associated Co-operative Creamery said a driver called the police after spotting a cat-like form enter the main gates at 2am - but police did not see anything.
Worried residents in the picturesque rural community have been locking up pets and keeping a close eye on their children since Sunday's attack.
Dyfed Powys police have since advised local farmers to tour their land in pairs as a precaution and to carry a high powered torch at night.
Richard Morgan, who runs Llangadog post office, previously said everyone in the village was taking the sightings extremely seriously.
"People are being very careful with their children and keeping them in view and are basically not letting pets out at all," he said.
"The police are still here and on stand-by, which is reassuring people.
"But these cats can travel large distances very quickly so nobody knows whether it has left he area or is still here."
Police have said the results of tests on DNA and saliva from the dead dog would not be known for two weeks.
.:Story originally published by:.
icWales.com | Vicky Shaw - Jan 9.03
REPORT NO.2
A big cat believed to be roaming the Carmarthenshire countryside has been spotted again.
A milk tanker driver from Whitland reported seeing the beast at midday yesterday while picking up milk from a farm at Ffair Fach near Llandeilo.
Armed police officers responded to the call but found nothing.
The sighting came just hours after another driver from a creamery at Llangadog reported seeing a beast at the creamery at 2am on Wednesday.
It followed the attack and killing of a whippet by an animal, believed to be a puma, at nearby smallholding on Sunday.
Witness Mike Shepherd, 62, from Cwmgors who saw the animal with the dog on the small holding at Trefenty near Llangadog described it as "a big black animal" with blood in its mouth.
"It was about four foot long without counting its long tail and there was a smaller one, about half the size, right beside it," he said.
Officers responding to the Sunday sighting failed to entice the animal back to the area. CCTV footage taken at the creamery later failed to show the presence of the animal.
On Wednesday evening police decided to change tactics and mount a mobile response in an armed vehicle. Dyfed Powys police said that it would be a more effective way of covering the remote countryside area.
