Photo courtesy of North Dakota Game and Fish Department Radiocollared mountain lion captured on a remote camera in North Dakota. To help protect the public from escaped captive animals, the department has banned the possession of mountain lions as pets since 2005. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife biologists are monitoring the expansion of cougar populations from the western U.S. DNA tests on the recovered arrow revealed that he had actually shot a bobcat. Several years ago, a hunter shot what he said was a mountain lion with his bow. Likewise, more than a quarter million hunters take to the state’s woods and fields each year for deer season and no one has taken a mountain lion. The rising popularity of motion-activated trail cameras deployed year round throughout Kentucky’s woods and fields have yet to produce a confirmed image of a mountain lion in the state. Kentucky’s tally is the one female kitten struck by a vehicle in Floyd County in 1997, and that animal was of captive origin.
In Florida, with its small population of panthers, about two dozen of the big cats are killed on the road each year. Mountain lion captured on a remote camera inĪ good indicator of the presence of mountain lions is the number of animals killed on the road. In addition, it is no coincidence that reports of mountain lions have increased with the popularity of the internet- which enables the unintentional and intentional sharing of inaccurate information. Bobcats may have solid brown coats, which can cause people to misidentify them when glimpsed in low light.
They are now found in every county in the state. Bobcats, which were considered rare as late as 1974, have increased in range and abundance throughout Kentucky. The increasing number of big cat reports in the state coincides with the return of the bobcat to Kentucky’s landscape. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife biologists rely on physical, verifiable evidence to assess mountain lion sightings in the state. DNA testing revealed the kitten had South American ancestry, leading to the conclusion that it was of captive origin. However, there have been only two confirmations: a female kitten struck by a car in Floyd County in June 1997, and an adult male mountain lion dispatched by a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife conservation officer in Bourbon County on December 15, 2014. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources receive reports each year of mountain lions roaming the state. A small population of panthers – fewer than 200 animals – also lives in southwestern Florida. Davis noted there were no valid records of a mountain lion in the state after 1899.Ĭurrently, the nearest wild population of mountain lions resides in Nebraska, more than 900 miles from Kentucky. In the landmark 1974 book “Mammals of Kentucky,” authors Roger W. While mountain lions were once common in Kentucky, research shows the state has not supported a wild population of mountain lions for more than a century.
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