We return to Wildside Exotic Rescue in Herefordshire, where owner Lindsay Mckenna now cares for 11 pumas, a lynx, a serval and many other animals which were exotic captives needing new and better homes. 

Our 4 guests describe their own sightings of pumas wild in Britain, and compare them to the pumas at Wildside...   

Jenny near Bath watched a puma exploring her garden at 6.30am in 2023 before it loped off into the adjacent wood. 

Tracey re-lives her close encounter with a grey-tone puma in Chile, and prompts discussion on pumas avoiding people even when close by. 

John Bilney explains how he sets up trail cams at woodland edges in the south Cotswolds, after he confronted two pumas on a cycle to work one morning.

Jon from Carmarthen recounts the hissing puma in front of his car as it cornered a bend in south-west Wales, experienced just 5 days before the podcast recording.  

The guests chat with Lindsay about the challenges of caring for pumas at Wildside, as we hear the puma sounds in the background as they feed on portions of locally culled fallow deer. Rick offered the pumas their first taste of boiled eggs…

Website for Wildside Exotic Rescue, where we recorded this episode. Note the cottages for hire, the Open Days, and the Donations pages, as ways of supporting Wildside. 

https://www.wildsideexoticrescue.co.uk/ 

Words of the week:   coalition of cats 

28 February 2026