Newschecked every hour

Check before you go.

Bears in the backyard. Gators in the retention pond. Sharks off the sandbar. BeastWatch maps wildlife encounters as they're reported, near home and wherever you're headed.

BeastWatch shows what has been reported: news, member reports and archived records. It can't tell you what's there right now. Not an emergency service. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

Get started

Currently free. A one-minute setup and a free account, then the map is yours.

The BeastWatch map around Boulder, Colorado, with markers for bears, elk, coyotes and venomous spiders. Illustrative screenshot; counts change.

Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO

Watch areas

Tell BeastWatch the places you care about.

We'll email you when a member reports an animal inside one, or when two or more outlets report an attack there. Alerts can be late or never arrive, so don't rely on them as your only warning.

  • The dog park
  • The trailhead
  • The campground
  • Up to 10 places, each with its own radius
  • News alerts only for attacks reported by two or more outlets
  • Alerts come by email.
Set a watch area
BeastWatchnow
Wildlife alert near Dog park
New coyote reported near Dog park. 3 sightings there in the last 30 days. Stay alert.
BeastWatch2h ago
Wildlife alert near Lake trail
In the news near Lake trail: Black bear charges hikers on the east loop

See how it works

Start with the map near you.

  1. Look. Each report is a pin. Tap one to see what was reported and where it came from.
  2. Flip. Switch the map to Legend and the cryptids come out.
  3. Browse. Swap stories at the Campfire, swipe through Trail Cam, ask the Guide.

Gatlinburg, TN past month

The BeastWatch map around Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with bear, elk, coyote and venomous spider pins for one past month. Illustrative screenshot; counts change.

Why BeastWatch

Close calls are easy to miss.

Most close calls live in a local news story, a group chat, or nowhere at all. BeastWatch puts the ones that get reported on one map.

A year of reports across North America on the BeastWatch map, thousands of pins from Alaska to Central America. Illustrative screenshot; counts change.
A year of reports across North America. Illustrative screenshot; counts change. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO
News events
8,200+

Wildlife stories from the news, many of them years old. Coverage of one event is merged where we can match it.

Field records
627,000+

Observations from iNaturalist and GBIF, plus legend archives.

Species and legends
70+

Each one drawn as a character.

News check
Hourly

News sources are checked every hour. Not every story is found, and some reach the map late.

Built for caution, not panic

Where the pins come from.

Every hour

The news

Coverage of attacks and sightings from around the world. AI filters out the noise (a college football team stays off the map), merges duplicate headlines into one event, and pins it only as precisely as the reporting allows. AI can get details or places wrong, so each pin links to the coverage.

AI photo checks

Member reports

Snap a photo or video and drop a pin. Photos and videos are checked by AI, which can be wrong. Reports without a photo go up marked 'unverified'. Members can report a problem, and our team decides what comes down.

Archived

The field archives

Over 627,000 field records: observations from iNaturalist and GBIF, plus Project Blue Book and France's GEIPAN case files, Swedish folklore archives and more.

Approximate on the map

On the public map, a member's report is shown within about 300 m of where it was made, and a report of a sensitive species, like a wolf or a big cat, within about 20 km. News stories are pinned from what the coverage says, often by AI, and can be in the wrong place. Field records are shown where their source put them.

Read the source

News pins link to the coverage, and records to the original observation, so you can check them yourself.

Checked, not certain

AI can be wrong, so each ID says how sure it is. Members can report a problem, and our team decides what comes down.

Respect the animal

Stay back, stay aware, never feed wildlife.

Inside the app

More than a map.

Trail Cam's For You tab playing a stock clip of a moose resting in a grassy yard, credited to IRINA via Pexels. Illustrative screenshot.
Trail CamShort wildlife videos from members, YouTube channels and stock libraries.

The field guide

70+ species. Every one gets a face.

From the cone snail to the polar bear, most animals on the map are drawn as a character you can read at a glance.

Illustration of an alligator in a cypress swamp
AlligatorSwamps & ponds →
Illustration of a shark over a sandy bottom
SharkCoasts & sandbars →
Illustration of a cougar on a rocky ledge
CougarCanyons & trails →
Illustration of a coiled rattlesnake in the desert
SnakesDeserts & brush →

The lore layer

The things people swear they saw.

Bigfoot, Mothman, the chupacabra, lake monsters. Flip the map to Legend and the cryptids come out, drawn in violet and kept apart from the real threats. Browse Project Blue Book and France's GEIPAN case files, Swedish folklore archives and more, then watch the famous footage on Trail Cam.

Filed as legend, not fact

Questions

Before you head out.

The short answers. The app has the long ones.

Is BeastWatch free?
Yes, it's currently free. The Guide has a daily limit on questions.
Do I need to download anything?
No. The whole app runs in your browser at beastwatch.app. Apps for iPhone and Android are on the way.
Do I need an account?
For the map, the Campfire, Trail Cam and the Guide, yes, a free one. Species pages, the safety library and anything someone shares with you open without one. A one-minute setup asks what you want to watch and where, and your answers are saved as you go. You make your account at the end, and the map opens set up for you.
Is Bigfoot real?
We file him as legend, not fact. But we will show you where people say they saw him.

See what's been reported.

It's currently free. Tell us what you want to watch and where, make your account, and the map is yours.

Get started

Runs in your browser. iPhone and Android apps on the way.