Pembrokeshire schoolkids are being encouraged to enter a competition to bring a friendly pants-wearing dinosaur to Pembrokeshire.

Pantosaurus is the mascot of leading children’s charity, the NSPCC, which is currently marking its 140th anniversary year.

The charity is being supported this year by Newsquest, the owner and publisher of the Western Telegraph, which is giving advertising support worth £6million.

The cheerful creature is currently highlighting the NSPCC’s Talk Pants Day Cymru and sharing the charity’s important ‘staying safe’ message of its Talk Pants campaign.

This has so far enabled more  than 1.5million parents and carers to talk to youngsters about the sensitive subject of child abuse. 

Pantosaurus and the NSPCC recently met Welsh politicians, including local MSs Samuel Kurtz and Paul Davies, to mark Talk Pants Day Cymru and to spotlight a new a children’s book for nurseries, primary schools and libraries aimed at helping to keep children safe from sexual abuse.

Samuel Kurtz MS said: “The Talk Pants initiative has really captured people’s imagination and enabled an important yet uncomfortable subject to be discussed in a sensitive and supportive way.

“It is up to every one of us to become alert to signs of sexual abuse and, by normalising conversations on the subject by using tools such as the Pantosaurus book and mascot, this task will have been made easier.”

To help mark Talk Pants Day, a competition has been launched for primary-aged school children and below, where schools can get creative, use Talk Pants resources and create a Talk Pants display.

In return, they can win a goody bag and a visit from Pantosaurus to their school.

Paul Davies MS added: “I am pleased to support the Talk Pants campaign and encourage parents and guardians to make use of the resources that have been made available by the NSPCC.

"I hope that all primary schools across the area enter the competition and I look forward to meeting Pantosaurus if a school in my constituency is lucky enough to win.”