The Ruokolahti lion was a phenomenon that included several lion sightings in midsummer 1992 in the Ruokolahti and Imatra regions, which received great attention from the media, the public and officials.

The first sighting of the lion was made on 23 June by a forestry foreman stationed in Ruokolahti. The existence of the animal was officially confirmed when a large carnivore researcher found tracks of a non-Finnish big cat in the area four days later. Three ministries ordered the animal to be removed from Finnish nature, but the hunt soon ended when no further reliable sightings of the animal were received. Reports of the lion also came from elsewhere in Finland, especially from the Kristiinankaupunki region, where the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry assumed there was another big cat. According to the media, the lion was also seen in Karstula, Iiss and Hyrynsalmi.

Ruokolahti marketed its municipality with a lion between 1992 and 2012.