HOPKINSVILLE, KY – In Kentucky, mountain lions were once commonplace up until the 1900s when the population was hunted out and were officially declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011.
Despite the said extinction, sightings have been reported annually but not many are actually recorded as confirmed sightings, according to the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources.
While mountain lions were once prevalent in Kentucky, studies indicate that the state has not had a wild population for over a century. In their 1974 landmark book Mammals of Kentucky, authors Roger W. Barbour and Wayne H. Davis noted that no verified records of mountain lions exist in Kentucky after 1899, according to the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources.
But, as recently as 2014, a mountain lion was confirmed in Kentucky.
The last confirmed mountain lion sighting in Kentucky was recorded on December 15, 2014, in Bourbon County, and following DNA testing determined that the mountain lion was of captive origin, according to the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources.