An unfortunate possum, presumably part of the viable breeding population in the state of Arkansas, recently met an unfortunate and untimely death at the hands of a visiting tourist from parts unknown.
(Editors note: In the final installment of “Mountain Lions In Arkansas,” Inside Fort Smith takes a look at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission continued denial of the possibility of a breeding population of the big cats residing in the state of Arkansas.)
Myron Means, statewide large carnivore coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says they have never denied the existence of mountain lions in the state of Arkansas.
“At present, the agency does not have any evidence that suggests there is a viable or reproducing population of Mountain Lions in the state,”said Means. “Despite what most people believe, the AG&FC has never denied the existence of mountain lions in the state. But a sighting that cannot be verified by some physical means is not evidence (of a breeding population).”
“It has only been within the past decade or so that the AG&FC has begun to receive evidence of Mountain Lions mainly because of the popularity of game cameras.
“Our ‘official stance’ or position for the past couple decades at least, has been there may be occasional mountains lions that move through areas or show up from time to time but they are more than likely transient males from wild populations outside Arkansas or possibly escaped animals from captive facilities.”
According to Means, Arkansas is certainly within the historical range of the western subspecies. In the past decade, the AGFC has verified 12 sightings distributed throughout the state.
One adult male was killed in Bradley County in November of 2014 and hair was collected from the same lion from a cache in Marion County two months earlier. DNA analysis of that adult male confirmed that it had originated from the Black Hills population in South Dakota.
Prior to the Bradley County lion, the last known lion killed in Arkansas was in Logan County in 1975.
“The Commission has only as of lately begun to catalog all mountain calls or sightings,”said Means. “As I said earlier, a sighting, regardless of its credibility, is not evidence and historically has not been logged.”
Means says he can only provide an estimate of the number of unverified calls or sighting the agency receives annually but it ranges into the hundreds.
“We receive pictures almost daily of animals or things that are misidentified as mountain lions,” said Means. “During early settlement and pre-settlement mountain lions were common in Arkansas as was the Red Wolf. Both of those native populations were extirpated from the state.”
So the AG&FC basically still contends there is not a viable breeding population of the species in the state.
But there is a reason for that, according to a former employee of the Commission who spoke to Inside Fort Smith with the assurance of remaining anonymous.
“Of course, they are going to deny it,”said the source. “If they ever admit that there is a population living and breeding within the state, then they also will be on the hook to draft a management plan for mountain lions.”
The source says it’s not really about the possible cost or the time and energy that would have to be devoted to the management plan, holding public meetings and implementing the overall management of the species.
“The acknowledgement of a population portends managing or even increasing a stable and healthy species,”said the source. “That’s not going to happen. Livestock producers aren’t going to stand for it.
“Hunters and sportsmen that support the Commission will throw a fit because of the impact of small game and even deer in the state. On a lot of fronts, it’s not going to be well received.”
Means agrees is has never been about what the possible monetary cost of such an admission might be.
“It doesn’t cost the agency anything but time to develop a management plan,”said Means. “I know because I am the one that wrote our Mountain Lion Response Plan.”
Which begs the question … if there is no population of mountain lions in the state, why even have a response plan?
“Because of the increase in sightings over the past several years and the fact that Missouri has also seen an increase in sightings, I developed a response protocol for our agency,”said Means. “I will be more than happy to provide that response plan to you.
“However, just by having an agency response plan to sightings or depredations or whatever, that doesn’t mean we have a population of mountain lions in the state.
“As an agency, if we do not have evidence that a population exist, we aren’t going to start taking management actions as if a population does.”
Means scoffs at the claims of the former AG&FC employee and says that the Commission “manages the resources of the state on science based principles”and not conspiracy theories.
“I really don’t know what to say about your past casual conversations with a retired wildlife officer other than to say I am sure if you talk to enough past and present employees you could probably find one or two that believe in Bigfoot,” said Means. “I realize that the prevailing school of thought on matters like this is there is a big conspiracy to cover-up something like this but that simply isn’t the case.”
“Now, if Joe Public wants to believe that because we have evidence of a mountain lion in the state then that means we have a population of mountain lions, then I’m probably not going to convince them otherwise,” said Means. “However as a biologist of a natural resource agency, I can tell you that a ‘population’ only becomes a ‘population’ when those same species are capable of breeding.
“Until our agency has verified evidence of a female mountain lion in the state and reasonable proof that breeding has or is occurring, AG&FC will not recognize that a population of mountain lions exist in the wild in Arkansas.
“Sure we have Mountain Lions show up from time to time, but understanding how those large carnivores disperse from known populations suggests that the ones that show up in Arkansas are sub-adult or adult males looking to establish a home range of their own.”
Means says that when young adults of the species strike out on their own they are capable of covering hundreds and hundreds of miles. Missouri has documented over 60 occurrences of Mountain Lions in the last few decades.
So it would be reasonable to expect that the state immediately to the south that shares many of the same habitat types would be a natural dispersal avenue for those same lions.
“Despite Missouri documenting many more occurrences than Arkansas, Missouri has yet to document any evidence that suggests a breeding or reproducing population,”said Means. “Missouri has only within the past few months collected evidence from a female mountain lion.”
So, all that one can conclude about our quest for “Mountain Lions in Arkansas”is that maybe there are.
And maybe not.
Or maybe there are, but they’re just visiting.
It kind of depends on who you ask.
Dennis W. McCaslin
Dennis McCaslin has been a longtime news and sports reporter for several media outlets in the Fort Smith area. He has also been a well known radio personality and play-by-play announcer for several years prior to joining InsideFortSmith.Com. He is the voice of the ArklahomaSports High School Game of the Week. E-mail: dennis@greatplainsdigital.com
