(Original headline: BIG CAT SIGHTING IN BACK GARDEN )
A man from Llangain spoke of his astonishment this week at confronting what he believes was a large black puma.
The man was so surprised at meeting the beast in his garden, he said he didn't have time to feel afraid.
At 9pm last Saturday, Lynn Davies, from Dol y Dderwen, was sitting by a window overlooking his garden.
He said: "I heard a screech and saw this cat come whizzing past."
He stepped outside and came face-to-face with a "puma-like" creature on top of his summer house 40 feet away at the end of the garden.
"I saw it with my own eyes," he added. "I thought it was a dog to start with. It looked at me and then turned.
"It had a shinning black coat and a long black tail.
"It went over the side of the shed, jumped on an eight-foot fence and leapt over a wide hedge.
"The whole fence shock with the force of its jump."
The animal promptly disappeared in farm land behind Mr Davies's house.
He added: "It was smaller than a labrador but much bigger than a domestic cat."
Mr Davies reported the sighting to the police and was later called by an official from the Department for Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra).
He said: "The man told me they have received many sightings near here."
His neighbour, John Jones, who owns the land behind the houses, said there has been a spate of cats going missing and animals being attacked or killed.
He said: "People don't believe there are any big cats but, going back three years, I saw them firsthand on two occasions."
Mr Jones said he saw puma-like creatures chasing cows and then a month later running through a field.
He said: "The description Lynn gave - the way it leapt over that hedge - did sound like the same animal.
"It was no ordinary cat, but something quite big.
"There's plenty of cover for them to hide in. I've been told they cover up to 10 or 20 miles a day."
He said his farm alone covers 200 acres and there are six similar sized farms adjoining it with woodland in between.
A Dyfed-Powys Police spokeswoman said: "Police have received a report of a possible sighting of a big cat in the Llangain area, and are now liaising with the appropriate authorities."
