Cougar Sightings Persist

"There was a bloody paw print on the porch." 

That’s how a story relating a mountain lion in Monongalia County was related to me last week.     The story was second hand from my in-laws who had heard about the attack on a neighbor’s pet.  The story claimed the small dog was trying to make it through the doggy door when its hind quarters were grabbed by the big clawed paw. 

It’s the latest in a mounting number of reports of a mountain lion sighting in the area along Kingwood Pike near the Monongalia/Preston County line.  

During the last six months, at least four others have reported seeing a big cat in that neighborhood.    The rugged and remote location would make it a perfect place for a big cat to hide.   The road is lined with homes, but the backyards of these residences are vast tracts of timber and rugged forest land.     

The DNR has received many of the same accounts from credible witnesses.

"Technically the mountain lion is listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," said DNR Game Management Chief Paul Johansen.  "The last cougar that existed here in West Virginia was eliminated decades ago.  The mountain lion no longer exists here in West Virginia at least in a naturally reproducing state." 

That said, however, Johansen adds that when he hears the occasional story about a sighting in West Virginia he doesn’t doubt them.

"Most of those cases either involve a mistaken identity or it’s possible and we know it has occurred that people do crazy things and perhaps someone has turned one loose or it’s escaped from somewhere," Johansen said.

There are a handful of captive facilities in West Virginia that are licensed to harbor mountain lions.   There are others who have permits to keep them as pets.   The unknown factor is how many of the big cats are being kept illegally in West Virginia. 

"Occasionally we do get reports of mountain lions and they probably are out there on the landscape on occasion because of something that man has done," said Johansen.

The mountain lions that once roamed the hills and hollows of West Virginia are long gone.  The sub-species of the eastern cougar indigenous to the state is extinct.  There are still two other sub-species documented in the United States, the western cougar and the Florida panther.   Both are the same species, but have different sub-species status.

This weekend on West Virginia Outdoors we’ll open up the phone lines and have a conversation about the big cats.   We invite you to share any stories you may have about mountain lions with us on the radio at 7:06 Saturday morning.