Virginia Mountain Lions

Cougars, mountain lions, catamounts, pumas.  Call them what you want, I've never seen them around here in person nor on camera.  In fact, the eastern cougar (which is what would be in Virginia) is extinct.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared them extinct in 2011.  The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' website still recognizes the animal, but claims that there have been no officially confirmed cases of them in Virginia for many, many years.   Pumas live in many other parts of the U.S., and should not be confused with this subspecies of large cat.

Even with them officially extinct in Virginia, some people still swear by their sightings of these feline beasts. I've read a lot on recent unconfirmed sightings around here and enjoy the passion that is in the writing of people's stories. I take them into consideration of course, and will have my camera-traps out in the wild anyway.  It would be such an amazing experience to get a cougar on camera in northern Virginia, but for now, I won't expect to ever see one here.