Creature record / 2018
Late summer 2018. Cork Harbour. In the coastal villages of Fountainstown and Crosshaven, people began reporting a large cat. It was the size of a Labrador dog. It had a very long tail. Within nine days the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had logged six sightings it called credible. One resident, Aoife Fitzgerald, spotted it on her way home and took two blurry photographs. The charity set live traps. It hid trail cameras where the animal had been seen passing. Vets stood by to dart it. "It sounds very far fetched but it's not impossible," said Vincent Cashman. The traps stayed empty. The Crosshaven puma was never caught.
Fountainstown and Crosshaven are two coastal villages at the mouth of Cork Harbour, south of Cork city. Late August 2018. Reports began to reach the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the CSPCA. Members of the public, landowners and locals all described the same thing. A large cat.