A mountain lion was struck and killed late Wednesday night by a passing vehicle near Exit 91 of Interstate 30 in Hot Spring County, marking just the third confirmed wild mountain lion death in the state since 1975.
The incident occurred around 10 p.m. when a Malvern man struck and hit a mountain lion with his truck as it was crossing the interstate. He instantly pulled over and noticed the cat was still alive and breathing heavily. After another bystander helped block traffic, one of the men put the cat out of its misery with a pistol, per the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s (AGFC) instruction. Shortly after, officers from the Hot Spring County Sheriff’s Office were on the scene followed by the AGFC, who ultimately took possession of the large cat.
According to a report from the AGFC, the mountain lion was a healthy adult male. Initial measurements taken at the scene placed the animal at approximately 83 inches from nose to tail and weighing around 160 pounds. Tissue, hair, and tooth samples were collected and will be sent to an independent lab for DNA testing, which will help determine the cougar’s point of origin and age. The animal has since been transferred to Henderson State University for educational purposes.
This is the first confirmed mountain lion death in the wild in Arkansas since February 2024 and only the third mountain lion confirmed dead in the state in the last 50 years.
A Real Cat, Not Another Hoax
The confirmation comes after weeks of social media buzz in southwest Arkansas. In recent days, a trail camera photo of a mountain lion in Caddo Valley had many folks on edge as it was circulating social media.
While some locals wrote it off as a bobcat, large dog, or Photoshop job, others insisted the photos looked “too long in the body” and “too thick through the shoulders” to be anything but a mountain lion.
Considering this photo was taken roughly 14 miles away from Wednesday’s roadkill site, it very well could have been the same lion.
“We would need DNA evidence from the sites where the photos were taken to do a comparison, and so far no one has been able to produce any hair or other genetic material to do such analysis,” Daniels said, according to an AGFC article.
That hasn’t stopped speculation online, where hunters and locals alike are posting comparisons of the two mountain lions and trying to connect the dots. One Facebook user wrote, “I told y’all it wasn’t a dog. Glad it didn’t hurt anybody, but I hate seeing something that rare end up dead on the road.”
Despite dozens of unconfirmed reports over the years, AGFC has verified just 43 mountain lion sightings since 2010. That includes trail camera images, road kills, and one incident where a hunter shot a cougar in Bradley County in 2014. DNA from that animal traced it all the way back to the Black Hills region of Wyoming and South Dakota.
“Male mountain lions are known to roam, sometimes crossing multiple states,” Spencer Daniels, AGFC Large Carnivore Program coordinator, said according to an AGFC article.
The big cats were once native to Arkansas but were officially wiped out by the early 20th century due to unregulated hunting and loss of habitat. Since then, they’ve been considered extirpated, or functionally extinct, in the state.
While sightings do happen and some cats pass through, officials still maintain that there is still no evidence of a breeding population in Arkansas as no female or cubs have ever been verified in the state.
More Questions Than Answers
The most recent confirmed death before this was in February 2024, when a U.S. Forest Service employee found a dead mountain lion in Stone County’s Sylamore Wildlife Management Area. That cat was an older, emaciated male with worn and broken teeth, likely near the end of its natural life. It showed no signs of being shot or hit by a car.
In 2014, a deer hunter harvested a 148-pound male mountain lion just east of Hermitage in Bradley County. Wildlife officials later confirmed through DNA testing that it was likely the same cougar spotted weeks earlier in Marion County.
As for this new cat, it appeared in much better health, according to AGFC officials. It’s unclear where it came from or how long it had been in the state, but lab results expected in the coming weeks may shed some light.
“It’s a shame,” said one area hunter who saw the scene after the accident. “That was a once-in-a-lifetime animal around here. I’ve hunted Arkansas for 40 years and never thought I’d see a mountain lion, much less have one show up just down the road.”
While some hunters see the presence of mountain lions as exciting, an indication that wildness still exists, others are concerned about the implications.
“If they’re coming back, I’d want to know about it before I send my kid to the deer stand alone,” one commenter wrote on Facebook. “A 160-pound cat can do some serious damage.”
As of now, mountain lions are not classified as game animals in Arkansas, meaning there is no legal hunting season for them. The only exception is self-defense, where a person must reasonably believe they are in imminent danger of being harmed.
For now, the AGFC is encouraging residents to report any suspected sightings through their official channels. That includes photos, videos, tracks, or anything else that could help verify a mountain lion’s presence.
