Since we launched Puma Watch North Wales in late 2019, we have received over 800 reports of big cat sightings, with reports surging by a staggering 74% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year.
This is no longer just local folklore. Following a recent, widely reported Freedom of Information request, the Welsh Government was forced to publish their internal files. These documents revealed they have investigated around 15 official big cat sightings, including analysing video evidence and liaising with Chester Zoo experts, between January 2020 and December 2025.
Yet, despite this admission, questions previously raised in the Senedd, and pledges from Welsh Labour pre-election, the new Plaid Cymru government remains completely silent on the issue.
To force the issue, today marks the start of our July Big Cat Awareness Campaign.
To ensure this campaign reaches every corner of our community, our targeted digital posters rolling out across this month is bilingual, featuring dedicated Welsh-language versions. In preparation for this month, we have also just launched a Welsh-language version of our core website pages, alongside a brand-new interactive ‘hotspot’ map to help you visualise the clusters of sightings in your area.
Throughout the month, Puma Watch North Wales will be expanding on this comprehensive public awareness initiative. This includes coordinating a direct political push to demand answers from the Senedd, including template letters, launching printable and social media advocacy kits for our followers, and a local business partnership scheme.
Later this month, we will escalate the campaign by distributing formal advisory briefings for Local Authorities and Community Councils, along with releasing new educational toolkits for the summer holidays. We’ve also released updated summer safety guidance for those out and about in big cat hotspots.
A press release for media use can be downloaded here (.docx)
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Digital poster campaign
Over the last few days, you may have already spotted our new digital posters glowing across the coast. To kick off the campaign, we’ve secured high-visibility digital spaces to ensure our message is seen by thousands of locals and tourists alike.
Our initial digital rollout targets key coastal hotspots, with localised artwork currently live on screens across Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, and Conwy. As promised, these public displays feature both English and dedicated Welsh-language designs to ensure our warnings reach the entire community.
Take the campaign offline: Print your own
While our digital screens are highly visible, they can’t be everywhere. To truly raise awareness, we need your help getting this message onto community noticeboards, into village halls, and pinned up in local workplaces.
As they go live, we’re making the high-resolution files of our campaign artwork completely free to download and print.
- Llandudno region (Welsh language)
- Llandudno region (English language)
- Llandudno region (large print)
Coming soon…
We know big cats don’t respect county borders. Later this month, we will be expanding our printable poster range to include hyper-localised versions for Eryri, Chester, and other key reporting hotspots. Keep an eye on our site and social channels for the next drop.
Big cat hotspots map
Following technical upgrades to our mapping engine, we’ve been able to launch a long-awaited heatmap view of our popular big cat sighting map.
While logging individual encounters with specific map pins remains vital for our day-to-day research, this new feature allows both our team and the public to instantly visualise the broader scale of the phenomenon. By aggregating the data, distinct reporting “hotspots” have clearly emerged, highlighting intense areas of activity across Eryri, the Clwydian Range, and our coastal towns.
You can now seamlessly toggle between the classic ‘Sightings’ view and the new ‘Heatmap’ layer to see exactly how close these roaming territories are to your local area. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this visual data throughout Big Cat Awareness Month to see if the influx of summer tourists alters their usual hunting and roaming patterns.
Template letters
To truly break the silence from the Senedd, we need a coordinated effort. Politicians respond to numbers, and we are asking our readers to take five minutes today to demand transparency from their elected officials.
We have prepared three separate template letters targeting the different levels of government: your Member of the Senedd (MS), your Member of Parliament (MP), and your local Town or County Councillor.
How to contact your representatives
The easiest way to find and email your local politicians is by using WriteToThem.com. Simply enter your postcode, and the site will provide you with a direct, secure form to message all of your representatives at once.
Make it personal
While you are entirely welcome to copy and paste the templates below directly if they align with your own views, your message will have a significantly higher impact if you can add a personal touch.
We highly recommend using our Big Cat Sightings Map to find a recent sighting near your home, regular walking route, or workplace. Reference that specific sighting in your email—letting a politician know these encounters are happening in their specific ward makes the issue impossible to ignore.
Member of the Senedd (MS) Template
Wildlife and environmental policy are devolved to the Senedd, making your MS the most critical person to contact regarding this issue.
I am writing to you as your constituent to ask for your urgent support regarding an issue of growing concern in our community: the increasing number of big cat sightings across North Wales.
As you may be aware, the recent Puma Watch North Wales awareness campaign has highlighted a surge in local encounters. More importantly, this is no longer just local hearsay. A recent, widely reported Freedom of Information request revealed that the Welsh Government actively investigated around 15 sightings between January 2020 and December 2025.
As reported by the BBC and local press, the Welsh Government’s Wildlife Team even brought in experts from Chester Zoo and liaised with the police to analyse footage of these animals. You can view the formal FOI disclosures yourself via the Welsh Government's own website.
Despite these internal investigations, there has been complete public silence from the current Plaid Cymru government. It is unacceptable that authorities are quietly dedicating resources to this issue behind closed doors while offering zero transparency or guidance to the local communities who live and work in these areas.
I am asking for your help to ensure the Welsh Government finally treats this with the seriousness it deserves. Will you commit to tabling a formal question in the Senedd to demand the relevant minister outlines their current policy and publishes clear, transparent public findings on this matter?
I look forward to hearing how you plan to represent our community’s concerns on this issue.Member of Parliament (MP) Template
While MPs do not control devolved wildlife policy, they have a powerful platform to apply cross-party pressure on the Welsh Government.
I am contacting you today as a resident of your constituency regarding the significant and growing number of big cat sightings being reported across North Wales.
While I understand that wildlife policy is devolved to the Senedd, this is fundamentally an issue of rural concern that affects the people you represent in Westminster. A recent Freedom of Information disclosure proved that the Welsh Government has secretly investigated over a dozen sightings in recent years. The files show that government teams, police, and Chester Zoo experts have all been involved in analysing evidence of these animals.
The current Plaid Cymru administration in Cardiff has remained entirely silent on the matter publicly, and we urgently need representatives across all levels of government to break this silence. I am asking you to use your platform as our MP to press for answers. Whether through coordinating with your UK Labour counterparts, writing directly to the relevant departments, or applying pressure to the Senedd, we need cross-party support to ensure this issue is no longer brushed under the carpet.
Will you stand with your constituents and formally request that transparent findings are published for the awareness of our local community?Local Councillor Template
Town, Community, and County Councillors handle immediate grassroots issues. Asking them to install signage is a highly effective, low-cost community action.
I am writing to you as a local resident to ask what steps our council could take to raise awareness regarding the ongoing big cat sightings in and around our area.
You may have noticed the digital billboards currently up across North Wales as part of the Puma Watch awareness campaign. With so many of us regularly using local trails, parks, and woodland, there is a growing desire within the community for official acknowledgement from local authorities. We now know, following recent Freedom of Information disclosures, that the Welsh Government has investigated numerous local sightings over the last few years.
While we understand national policy is a matter for the Senedd, there is a very practical role for our local council to play. Given that we have local "hotspots" where sightings are frequently reported, would the council consider placing temporary signage or noticeboard flyers in these areas?
Simple signage raising awareness of the sightings and encouraging residents to formally report any encounters would go a long way in showing that the council is listening to community concerns. It would also help build a more accurate picture of wildlife activity in our ward.
I would be grateful if you could raise this suggestion at the next council meeting, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.Local business partnership scheme
Are you a local business owner on the North Wales coast, or do you run a rural pub near our reporting hotspots? We want to partner with you to help keep the community vigilant.
As part of our July campaign, we are rolling out a business partnership scheme. By downloading and displaying one of our official window decals, you can show your customers that your business takes local wildlife safety seriously.
Not only does this help raise awareness among tourists passing through the area, but it also creates a network of safe, eagle-eyed venues across North Wales where locals know they can report and discuss sightings without ridicule.
Download the business pack below to print your high-resolution window decal today.
Digital advocacy kits
While our printable posters are perfect for local noticeboards, we also need to dominate the digital space. To make it as easy as possible to spread the word online, we have put together a free, downloadable Digital Advocacy Kit.
Launching later in the month, this pack is designed to let you instantly turn your personal social media profiles into digital noticeboards for the campaign. Inside the kit, you will find:
- Campaign Cover Photos: Pre-sized, high-resolution banners for Facebook and Twitter featuring our Big Cat Awareness Month messaging.
- Profile Badges: Striking, square Puma Watch graphics you can temporarily set as your profile picture to show your support.
- Pre-Written Updates: A simple text file with ready-to-copy social media posts, complete with the right hashtags and links to our reporting page, so you can share the campaign with your friends and family in seconds.
Summer safety guidelines
With the summer holidays approaching and both locals and tourists flocking to the trails, coastal paths, and fells of North Wales, it is vital to know how to safely share these spaces with the region’s apex predators.
Because the Welsh Government has thus far refused to publish official safety advice, we have stepped in to fill the gap. We have compiled a clear, common-sense list of precautions to take if you are hiking or walking your dog in known reporting hotspots this summer:
- Stick to established paths: Avoid dense undergrowth to reduce the chance of surprising an animal.
- Control your pets: Keep dogs on a short lead and closely supervise small children.
- Do not run: If you encounter a big cat, running can trigger a predatory chase reflex.
- Appear larger: Pick up small children or pets, group together with anyone nearby, and back away slowly while maintaining eye contact.
- Report it: Once you are safe, report the exact location and time to Puma Watch immediately.
For a comprehensive breakdown of how to prepare for a hike in big cat territory, read our full Summer Safety Guidelines here.
Local authority & community council briefings
Later this month, we will be escalating our political action by distributing formal advisory briefings directly to Local Authorities and Community Councils across North Wales.
These briefings will outline the ongoing big cat encounters in their specific wards and provide actionable, low-cost recommendations for community safety, such as erecting temporary awareness signage in known reporting hotspots. We will be keeping our readers updated on which councils engage with the briefings and which choose to ignore the data.
Educational toolkit
As schools break up for the summer, we want to ensure the next generation understands the reality of the wildlife sharing our environment. In the coming weeks, we will be releasing a free educational toolkit.
Designed for parents, youth groups, and educators, this pack will provide age-appropriate resources to help teach young people about safe co-existence with North Wales’ big cats.
New merchandise
It has been a few years since we last updated the Puma Watch shop, but the launch of Big Cat Awareness Month felt like the perfect time for some new additions.
Over the coming weeks, we will be relaunching our store with a brand-new, expanded range of campaign merchandise tailored specifically for the outdoors.
Alongside high-quality, professional-print versions of our campaign posters, we are incredibly excited to introduce exclusive, limited-edition gear featuring our brand-new hotspot heatmap. You’ll soon be able to get your hands on lightweight heatmap neck gaiters and snoods, perfect for keeping the chill off when the nights draw in over August.
We are also rolling out rugged enamel camp mugs for a post-hike brew, heavy-duty canvas tote bags, and dedicated car window clings so you can spread the word while sitting in traffic on the A55.
Finally, for those dark evenings out in big cat territory, we’ll be adding custom high-vis vests and reflective armbands to the store, ensuring you stay safe and visible while flying the flag for the campaign.
The search continues
While our July Big Cat Awareness Campaign takes to the streets and the Senedd, our day-to-day investigations haven’t stopped. Throughout the month, we will continue to publish your regular sighting reports as they come in from across the region. We are also preparing to share even more startling information recently uncovered from the Welsh Government’s internal files – including some amazing video evidence retrieved straight from their archives that we will be breaking down very soon.
As always, your on-the-ground intelligence is the backbone of Puma Watch. If you spot anything unusual while out and about this summer, please report your sighting via our secure form here. Every detail, no matter how small, helps us build a clearer picture of the apex predators roaming North Wales.
Keep your eyes peeled, stay safe on the trails, and thank you for your continued support.