The Huge Mountain Lion of Leon, Kansas, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Etc.-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
This eRumor includes a picture of a large mountain lion saying it weighed more than 200 pounds and was shot in Leon, Kansas, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
The Truth:
The email is a hoax.
According to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks says the picture was actually published in the Fall issue of the Boone and Crocket Club’s magazine.
The big cat had been shot by a hunter named Ron Hisler from Duval, Washington.
He got it legally about 6 miles from Bellevue, Washington.
The same picture has been circulated with captions that claim it was shot near Hamsburg, PA, Alabama, Texas, Montana, and Wyoming.
We haven’t found an official estimate of the lion’s weight.
Hunters use other measurements of their prey to determine world records, but mountain lions have been known to reach the 200-pound range.
It’s interesting how a picture like this will get passed around with incorrect information.
Whoever attached the name of Leon, Kansas to it was playing into local rumors about mountain lions occasionally being seen in areas where they’ve never been known to live.
According to an article in the Wichita Eagle on 1/25/04, a local naturalist named Kirk Woods has been looking for any evidence of mountain lions in Kansas for two decades.
He says he’s never found any evidence of a lion so far.
Last updated 2/6/04