Puma on the loose in Poland: residents urged to stay out of the woods

In the Polish commune of Gołymin-Ośrodek, not far from Warsaw, local authorities have urged residents to avoid the nearby forest after hunters spotted a large animal resembling a puma. The news was confirmed by Krzysztof Sosnowski, a spokesperson for the municipality's crisis centre.

According to him, the hunters saw the animal through their rifle scope during a night hunt in the early hours of last Friday. Afterwards, the area was searched, and tracks were found that people familiar with animal tracking believe could belong to a predator. “This was no small cat — it was a real big cat,” Sosnowski said, adding that news of the sighting only reached officials several days later.

A distinctive silhouette and a chase after roe deer

Hunters reported that the animal had a distinctive silhouette with a powerful, curved tail — a feature typical of pumas. There have also been reports suggesting that a similar predator may have been chasing roe deer in the area.

For now, local authorities have limited their response to warning people against entering the forest, while also setting up a crisis team. Camera traps are also expected to be installed to help track the animal's possible whereabouts.

The predator may have already moved dozens of kilometres away

“We’ve been told that an animal like this can cover anywhere from 20 to 35 kilometres a day. So even if it really was here, it’s entirely possible that by now it has already moved somewhere else,” Sosnowski noted.

It also remains unclear how a big cat could have ended up in the area in the first place. Authorities say they currently have no information suggesting that such an animal escaped from a zoo or a private facility.

Source: novinky.cz