The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Sunday that it has confirmed that a mountain lion was spotted in northern Arkansas earlier this year.
According to a news release, the photo was taken on a private land near the Sharp-Fulton county line in January and sent to the commission earlier this month. The agency said biologists were able to verify the photo and its location.
This is reportedly the 14th confirmed sighting of a mountain lion in Arkansas since 2010.
The release noted that mountain lions lived throughout Arkansas until about 1920. The agency had offered bounties and hired trappers to control predators from 1927-29. At least 255 wolves and 523 bobcats were killed, but no mountain lions were taken, the release states.
In Arkansas, both temperatures and wildlife sightings are on the rise — but experts say this year's amount of reports of alligators and bears isn't that unusual, Arkansas Online previously reported.