No Mountain Lions in Kentucky, Experts Say, But Richmond Residents Think Otherwise

It never ceases to amaze how many people seem to want there to be creatures native to Kentucky that really aren't. I get it. It's exciting to think you may have spotted a panther, a wolf, or a mountain lion on a security camera or with your own two eyes. Elephants and hyenas would be exciting, too, but they're not indigenous to Kentucky, either.

Mountain Lion Sightings

Grainy images of panthers, wolves, and mountain lions (cougars) have been the subjects of many Facebook posts I've seen in which the poster believes these creatures are in those images. Of course, I can see how this one from D.J. Pinkel four years ago could convince someone of the existence of panthers in Kentucky.

On its website, however, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says that there are "no established populations of wild panthers or mountain lions in Kentucky." But the KDFWR does say there's a remote possibility that one (a mountain lion or cougar) could find its way into Kentucky; they do have populations in the Ozark regions of Missouri and Arkansas.

Mountain Lion in Richmond

The thing is, Richmond, Kentucky, is nowhere near the Mississippi River (what those rare transient cougars would have to cross to get here), but reports of a mountain lion sighting there have lit up social media.

Possible cougar sightings usually end up being bobcats, which have short, bobbed tails, as opposed to mountain lions, which have much longer tails. The creature in the image in a report from WBON-Richmond appears to have a bobbed tail, but the camera angle accentuates the animal's length. That seems to be why it's being called a mountain lion, or cougar.

No attacks have been reported, and the story is fresh, so I'll be on the lookout for updates while the residents of Richmond, I feel certain, will be on the lookout for what they believe is a mountain lion.