Missouri Mountain Lion Sightings Remain Unconfirmed

[Original headline: Cougar reports mount MDC officials discount most lion sightings]

St. Joseph, Mo. (AP) -- Reports of rural sightings of mountain lions have increased, but Missouri conservation officials say they can't find signs that the animals have invaded the state.

One likely candidate for what people are seeing is a bobcat, said Dennis Ritter, Livingston County conservation agent. The bobcat population in northern Missouri has become so healthy that in 1999 the department opened up a hunting and trapping season in that part of the state.

"If everybody who thought they saw a mountain lion here really saw one, we'd have quite a population," said Ron McNeely, a Missouri Department of Conservation wildlife damage biologist in Gallatin. "And even where there is a population, mountain lions are not seen."

McNeely said most of the mountain lion stories he has chased have turned into nothing, be he still investigates the sightings. The fifth confirmed sighting in the state in recent years was on New Year's Eve.

Michael Sharpe, 18, of Lewis County, was video-hunting deer when he saw something with a long tail and taped it. Only later, viewing the image, did he realize he had photographed a mountain lion.

"I drove to Lewis County and looked at the tape and it was a mountain lion," McNeely said. "I couldn't see any tracks, because it'd been almost a week, but there was no question about it."

None of the three state wildlife damage biologists have seen any livestock kills that would indicate a cat presence, but the state's whitetail deer population could provide a moving buffet.

"The reason the big cats vanished was the lack of a food source, the whitetail deer," Ritter said. "That deer is one of the big success stories for the department. We've brought back that population. This has all started some sort of a craze. People see something and say, 'Oh, it must be a mountain lion."'

Officials also speculate that some of the animals could be captive lions that have been released. An exotic-animal auction in Macon does a brisk business.

Though buyers must have a license and are checked on by department officers, other sales may not be so open.

• Story originally published by •
Jefferson City News Tribune / MO | By Ruth Sheehan - February 4 2001