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Online searches for big cats in Wales have surged following an increase in alleged sightings.

Research by AussieBoots has revealed that Cardiff and Wrexham saw a 100% increase in searches for ‘Big Cats UK’ from 2021 to 2023 – with Swansea seeing a 50% rise.

It comes after multiple big cat sightings have been reported in the press across the country in recent months and years.

The term ‘big cat’ is usually used to describe large wild felines such as tigers, lions, panthers, jaguars, leopards, cheetahs and cougars.

Big cats such as pumas are solitary and their hunting range is dozens of miles.

When big cats were banned as pets in the 1970s, it was legal to release them into the countryside to avoid expensive rehoming costs.

Experts believe that owners from across the UK travelled to Wales to release their cats in to the remote environment.

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A BBC study collated more than 100 big cat sightings in 18 months across north and mid Wales.

Another study recorded 123 Welsh sightings over two years with frequent reports of big cats in Flintshire, Denbighshire, Conwy and Gwynedd.

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Wales overall has seen a 50% increase in internet searches for big cats whilst Northern Ireland was the country that saw the highest rise in searches (133%).

Scotland came second (127%), and England came third (84%).

The UK saw an 84% increase overall.

Pete Bryden from AussieBoots said: “The increase in big cat sightings across the UK has certainly captured the public’s imagination.

“It’s fascinating to see how interest has grown, particularly in Wales where searches have surged.

“Whether these sightings are fact or folklore, it’s clear that the British countryside still holds plenty of mysteries for us to discover.”

Fortean TV was a British paranormal documentary television series produced by Rapido TV, originally broadcast from 29 January 1997 to 6 March 1998 on Channel 4. The series was about anomalous phenomena and the paranormal, based upon the Fortean Times magazine; it was presented by Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe. Fortean TV ran for 3 series (the third was an adult version renamed Fortean TV Uncut with unseen material from the previous two series as well as new items). The three seasons comprised 22 half-hour episodes (the last of the first season was a compilation "Best Of"), plus a final hour-long family Christmas special.

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It was released on DVD in late 2022 but is hard to find now.

Charlie Cooper is best known for creating the sitcom This Country with his sister, Daisy May.

But his latest solo project - Charlie Cooper's Myth Country - will see him campervanning around Britain to investigate some "gloriously bonkers rural myths".

The first episode - airing on BBC Three at 9pm on Friday - will show him in East Anglia learning about the story of Black Shuck the "devil dog".

It lurks around the coast and in rural roads and churchyards after dusk.

Anyone who meets it is allegedly condemned to die within 12 months.

Cooper explained: “I’m really excited about this new series as I’ve always been fascinated by local legends, myth and folklore.

"As I see it, my mission is to explore our ancient world, seek out mythical creatures and boldly go where no TV presenter has gone before.”

The series will be split into three 30-minute episodes which will be available on BBC iPlayer shortly after airing.

Aliens have not been discovered in South America after all. The doll-like figures, photos of which went viral online last year, are just that – dolls, according to scientists.

The controversial artifacts were seized by Peruvian customs agents in October and intended for "a Mexican citizen," the Associated Press reported.

Mexican journalist and self-described "UFOlogist" Jaime Maussan brought similar unidentified fraudulent objects in front of the Mexican congress last September, claiming that they had been recovered near Peru's ancient Nazca Lines and dated over 700 years old.

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Experts with Peru's prosecutor's office analyzed the seized dolls, and forensic archaeologist Flavio Estrada presented the results of their findings at a press conference for the Peruvian Ministry of Culture on Friday.

"They are not extraterrestrials, they are not intraterrestrials, they are not a new species, they are not hybrids, they are none of those things that this group of pseudo-scientists who for six years have been presenting with these elements," Estrada said.

The humanoid three-fingered dolls consisted of earth-bound animal and human bones assembled with modern synthetic glue, Estrada elaborated. It isn't the first time Maussan has had an otherworldly corpse debunked — he made similar claims in 2017.