List of mammals of West Virginia

Bounties were paid on their "scalps" in West Virginia through the late 1890s with the last recorded one being killed by Stofer Hamrick in Randolph County in January 1900.

In 1936, however, came a last officially confirmed record of cougar tracks in the state; by a Smithsonian worker, near Cranberry Glades in Pocahontas County.

[18][19][20] Recently, the eastern cougar was federally listed as "endangered" in West Virginia and sporadic, unconfirmed accounts of its presence (tracks and sightings) continued to be reported.

Numerous place names in Pennsylvania and West Virginia attest to how frequently these animals were encountered in the state.

In the late 18th century, European hunters and explorers in the Trans-Allegheny region of the state reported seeing sizable populations, especially along the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers.

(Present day Putnam County (formed in 1848) in particular had been cut by bison trails, as the animals moved to and from the Ohio River.

Walker noted that, "game in these parts and would have been of much greater advantage to the inhabitants than it has been if the hunters had not killed the Buffaloes for diversion."

[23] As hunting regulations were enacted, law enforcement personnel hired, game refuges established and restocking started, the deer population gradually was reestablished.

BeaverNorth American beaver (Castor canadensis) were almost completely exterminated from the area now known as West Virginia by 1825 due to trapping by early settlers (Swank 1948).

[25][26] FisherThere were reports of the fisher (Pekania pennanti) – also known as Pennant's marten – being trapped in West Virginia and pelts being sold in the 1870s.

In about 1843, three were killed in Canaan Valley, Virginia, by members of the Flanagan and Carr families, local settlers who habitually hunted there.

The neighboring state of Kentucky actively reintroduced Rocky Mountain elk (C. c. nelsoni)[30] to their eastern woodlands in 1997, and by 2009 the population had increased to over 10,000 animals.