Mountain Lion Killed

[Snakedriver]

I was born and raised in the Kansas City area and my wife is from a little town down near the Lake of the Ozarks. Just prior to us moving away from Missouri in 1993 people on the Kansas side of KC, over in Johnson County, kept seeing "mountain lions" but were repeatedly told by the authorities that they didn't exist and were probably just bobcats. I also remember seeing a picture in the newspaper of a shot a woman in Johnson County took in her back yard where a large mountain lion was taking a nap on her chase lounger. There was also a picture of the cat running off with the long tail standing in the air. Some bobcat! A zoologist was quoted saying that the growing deer population in the area had no doubt brought the big cats. It seems deer are primary source of food for the cats. If you've got a large population of deer, you probably have the cats.

Now I think sitings are quite common in Missouri. My father-in-law sees them when he's out deer hunting in Miller County down in mid-missouri quite frequently.

Here in South Florida where we have a sizable population of "panthers" (same critter as a mountain lion) we just exist along with them and while they snatch a goat or some other small livestock every once in a while, they've never attacked a human that anyone can remember. Same goes with the red wolves and black bear we have roaming around here too.

 

[Mustangpalmer91]

PA is going through the "there are none here" from our Game Commission even tough people have gotten photos, lost live stock, and all the same as Missouri happenings. We dont have them here but they are protected, even if you are a farmer and kill you attacking you're live stock.

 

[Art Eatman]

Apparently it's physically impossible for a mountain lion to exist in any area unless it's been seen first-hand by an Official Person of a game department. No member of the lay public knows what he's looking at, nor can he be relied upon to be truthful. Trust your government in all things.

 

[Sarge]

I was born and raised in the Kansas City area and my wife is from a little town down near the Lake of the Ozarks. Just prior to us moving away from Missouri in 1993 people on the Kansas side of KC, over in Johnson County, kept seeing "mountain lions" but were repeatedly told by the authorities that they didn't exist and were probably just bobcats...

Just saw your post, Snakedriver. I was a Sgt. for the Lafayette County Sheriff's Dept. in (one county north of Johnson) at that time. There were some folks about 10 miles south of Higginsville Junction who had several permitted, big cats (some African) in an enclosure... I recall hearing about them getting 'off the reservation' occasionally and causing quite a stir among the locals.

"Martha... there's a lion asleep on the back deck!! You know, like the MGM lion! Call the Sheriff!"

"Lay off the sauce Henry. It's 6:30 AM, for heaven's sake."

The Lion Sleeps Tonight plays softly in the background...

 

[Snakedriver]

Can you just imagine the "oh crap" moment when the woman gets up, gets some coffee and then spots the big cat napping on the lounger in the back yard???

 

[PawPaw]

Ten years ago I was told that there were no cougars in my little part of north central Louisiana. We've seen several. I know that there is at least one breeding pair in the lower part of Natchitoches Parish, near the Red Dirt WMA and I know that there is at least one near my Momma's place near Deville, LA in Rapides Parish.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that cougar are in Missouri or Tennessee. That's prime country for them.

 

[Cowboy_mo]

Within the last few days there was a confirmed sighting (photos taken & verified by MDC) of a cougar in the West St. Louis county suburb of Chesterfield.

MDC re released their tired old statement about "young males strolling through Missouri looking for new territory".

Snakedriver.... they also stated that Florida has a population of 100 big cats and while Florida sees frequent road kills, we have only had 13 confirmed sightings in Missouri over the last 15 or so years (search the MDC site and read their post).......

MDC just does not want to admit that we have any kind of a breeding population in the state.

 

[Snakedriver]

Well Cowboy Mo for good or bad, the newest number released this month is officially 160 panthers now. Unofficially the number is somewhere between 200 & 600 according to some of the some folks. The Everglades are a very big place and there's no way anyone is going to count them all.

Here's an article that was in our newspaper recently.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/jan/17/florida-panther-number-163-conservation-commission/?partner=RSS

Interestingly, a few years ago they brought some other cats from Texas that were judged to be nearly DNA identical to the Florida panthers so they could enhance the local breeding population with some fresh blood.

Cars are definitely the cats biggest natural enemy.

 

[Art Eatman]

For sure, on the problem with cars.

It's common in Texas to have lengthy dry spells. What little rain happens runs off the pavement, so the borrow ditches are greener than the pastures behind the fencing. That attracts critters, which then leads to dead critters and crumpled sheet metal.

We were driving along I-10 between Fort Stockton and Ozona, casually counting dead deer, and BossLady sez, "Hey! A dead lion by the fence!"

Only time I've ever seen that...

 

[Mobuck]

I haven't heard any more info on the cougar killing in Macon county. It's been hushed quickly it would seem. I've been tramping around the place looking for tracks but nothing bigger than bobcat here. Although they're very sneaky, they can't prevent leaving tracks when they move. I spotted bobcat tracks on two different farms 5 miles apart-yearlings by the size of the tracks. I've got a bunch of deer right close to the house and barn so it's possible that could draw any cat in the area.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm from around the Asheville, NC area (don't live there now) and have seen two big kitties in the wild there, about 15 years apart. I'm very familiar with the smaller cats and these weren't Bobcats or anything else. Yes, the bigger cats exist, they're just super sneaky and for many reasons, no one wants to admit they are there.

 

[MBGSXR600]

I live in St Louis county right where this was spotted. The area is a decently wooded area, but homes are all around. I would think if it lived in the area, more dogs would of come up missing or found dead. But there are tons of deer in our area, so bad that we have to have special managed hunts in our area to control the deer problem.

Link to news report and pic of the cat....http://www.fox2now.com/videobeta/?watchId=c30bbd00-832b-417d-99cd-c0457fb5a511