Henderson to study, preserve “Malvern mountain lion” struck, killed by vehicle

MY, WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE: A mountain lion killed recently on an Arkansas highway is part of the collection of preserved animals at Henderson State University’s science department. | Screenshot of HSU video

ARKADELPHIA, Arkansas — Henderson State University has added an oddity to its sizable collection of carcasses for scientific study.

Since late last week, the “Malvern mountain lion” that was struck and killed near Social Hill has been in the custody of Henderson’s science department. The catamount became paramount news in Arkansas, where sightings are rare but having an actual specimen is extraordinary in a state where mountain lions had been extirpated for nearly a century.

Fortunately for Henderson, alumnus Brady Baker is an Arkansas Game & Fish Commission game warden assigned to Hot Spring County, where the 160-pound cougar was killed late Wednesday, Oct. 8, on Arkansas Highway 84. Baker negotiated for the road-killed cat to be taken to HSU for preservation and scientific study, said Dr. Renn Tumlison, professor emeritus of natural sciences, in a video HSU posted to its Facebook page.

“We’re going to take the specimen and skin it, and try to tan the hide” for preservation, Tumlison said. “Tissue samples will be taken, we’ll clean the bones, and it will be in our permanent collection. A hundred years from now if someone wants to study this animal, it’ll be here.”

According to AGFC, mountain lions were native to Arkansas until about 1920, when unregulated hunting and habitat loss all but wiped them out of The Natural State. While there is no confirmed evidence of mountain lions breeding in Arkansas, they are at least traveling through the state from their native homelands of Western and Midwestern U.S. 

AGFC has confirmed 43 male mountain lion sightings since 2010, and recorded at least two deaths in recent years.

In 2014 one mountain lion was shot and killed by a deer hunter in Bradley County of southeastern Arkansas, and in February 2024 a U.S. Forest Service employee found a dead mountain lion on a wildlife management area in Stone County, in north-central Arkansas.

AGFC said that many social media posts have indicated a mountain lion in the area of DeGray Lake. Although the cat killed in the vehicle accident may be the one in these images, there is no way to confirm it is the same mountain lion.

Having the Hot Spring County cougar in Henderson’s existing arsenal of preserved mammals, birds, fish and other animals is “good for our students,” Tumlison added. “We are representing Southwest Arkansas with our collection. To get something this uncommon is a rarity for any school.”