Mountain lion rarely seen in North Texas killed on highway

State wildlife officials are hoping a necropsy will help them figure out how a large mountain lion wound up in a North Texas county where it was struck and killed by a car.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials say it’s the first mountain lion spotted in Palo Pinto County in at least 15 years.

County Game Warden Matt Waggoner says the lion was a mature male and weighed about 200 pounds. He describes the cat as “just massive.”

The animal was crossing a highway when it was hit last week by a high school student from Graford, about 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) west of Fort Worth.

Authorities say the necropsy should show what the cat’s been eating and whether it’s connected to lion populations in Southwest or West Texas.