STAFF at supported living accommodation were stunned when their CCTV captured what appears to be a big cat.

The footage was recorded at Green Pastures accommodation in Holywell at 2.08am this morning (July 2).

Housing manager Pauline Jones said she has watched the footage several times and is convinced the creature, which she describes as "walking like a lion", is too big to be a domestic cat.

Pauline said: "It doesn't look like a domestic cat to me!

"It's quite difficult because the camera that it is on has mesh around it. At first I couldn't make out what it was so I transferred it from my phone to my laptop. I thought there's no way that's a cat, it must be somebody's dog - but if you look at its tail and the way it is walking there is no way it is a dog.

"It turns to look at something and you can see it has a cat-like head, but it also has a really long tail. You can see it's not a normal cat. When you look at him or her walking it has a different gait to a domestic cat, the way it lifts its paws is more like a dog, they are bigger and heavier.

"We have been there today and showed it to residents who say they have never seen anything like it."

The video is not the only evidence - one of the residents of the flats recently found a giant "poo" while they were working in the garden this morning.

Pauline added: "I was speaking to one of the residents who has a gardening project going on outside his flat and he told me he picked up the most massive poo this morning."

There have been a number of big cat sightings in North Wales, Shropshire and Chester in 2020 and 2021.

There have been reports of big cat sightings in North Wales since at lease the 1970s, with areas like the Clwydian Hills and Snowdonia believed to be a suitable habitat for a small population of pumas or other big cats.

But there have also been sightings of large cat-like creatures in more populated areas like Connah's Quay.

Reports vary, with witnesses usually describing the creatures as black or light brown in colour.

The size also varies from "the size of a Welsh Springer Spaniel" to "three times the size of a Labrador".