The mountain lion is a large wild cat that once roamed freely in West Virginia, especially in the Allegheny Mountains. This cat is also known as a cougar, puma, or panther. You can still see its influence in places across the state named "Panther Knob" or "Panther Run." They can be yellow-brown to gray. Large males can reach up to eight feet long and weigh up to 160 pounds.

Early European-American settlers saw mountain lions as a threat to their families and livestock. The state paid bounties (rewards) for dead mountain lions. For example, 73 were killed in Randolph County between 1852 and 1859. These killings, along with the loss of their forest habitat, successfully eliminated the cats from the state. The last officially recorded killing was in 1887 in Pocahontas County.

After years of research, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the Eastern Cougar (the subspecies that lived here) extinct in 2018. While people still report seeing them, these sightings are likely rare western cougars expanding their range or animals that were illegally transported and released.