Cattleman Kills Mountain Lion In Ray County

[jdmidwest]

Cattleman kills mountain lion in Ray County

Bob Littleton has a big cat story that few Missourians can tell.

Conservation Agent Tammy Pierson said Littleton went to one of his pastures Sunday night after coon hounds treed a mountain lion where his cattle were grazing. He killed the mountain lion (Felis concolor) with a shot to the head from a .22-cal. rifle.

Littleton reported the incident as required by law. Pierson collected the mountain lion this morning and sent it to the Missouri Department of Conservation Resource Science Center in Columbia, where resource scientists examined it this afternoon. Ray County is located just north of the Missouri River east of Kearney, near Kansas City. The most well-known Ray County town is Excelsior Springs.

Conservation Department furbearer biologist Jeff Beringer said the mountain lion weighed 115.2 pounds and measured a little over 6.5 feet from nose to tip of tail.

The sharp edges of the cat’s teeth and faint barring on the insides of its legs indicate it was a young male, probably three years or younger. Beringer said laboratory tests will provide more detailed information about the cat’s age and genetic makeup.

Conservation officials say the mountain lion showed no sign of having been held in captivity.

“We removed a small premolar tooth that will be sectioned so we can count the annual growth rings,” said Beringer. “That will tell us exactly how old it was. DNA testing will tell us whether it was related to native mountain lions in states to the west of Missouri, or if it is more closely related to mountain lions from somewhere else – possibly captive animals.”

Northwestern Nebraska is the closest place to western Missouri with an established mountain lion population.

Beringer said nothing about of the Ray County mountain lion led him to believe it had been held in captivity. It had no tattoos or electronic identification tags – customary ways of marking captive cats. Its skin and paws showed no sign of having lived in a concrete-floored enclosure, and it still had dewclaws, which often are surgically removed in captive animals to prevent injury.

The Ray County cat is Missouri’s 12th confirmed mountain lion sighting since 1994. Most of the mountain lions whose bodies have been recovered have been young males.

Young males are the most mobile mountain lions. They typically leave their birth areas to establish new territories, Finding young males is consistent with the idea that most Missouri cats do not originate here.

Beringer said there is no evidence of mountain lion reproduction in Missouri to date. The Missouri Conservation Commission reclassified the species from “endangered” to “extirpated” in 2006, based on such lack of evidence of a self-sustaining population. Current Commission policy says that re-establishment of a sustainable mountain lion population in Missouri is not desirable, due to the potential for conflict with human activities.

Missouri’s Wildlife Code protects mountain lions, but the Wildlife Code also allows the killing of any mountain lion that attacks or kills livestock or domestic animals or threatens human safety. People who kill mountain lions must report the incident to MDC immediately and turn over the intact carcass, including the pelt, within 24 hours.

[ness]

There's a little more informative article than the first one I saw. It's almost like...I dunno...more facts are becoming available and this isn't such a big deal.

Hmmm.

[eric1978]

Missouri's Wildlife Code protects mountain lions, but the Wildlife Code also allows the killing of any mountain lion that attacks or kills livestock or domestic animals or threatens human safety.

So, with sincere intentions of civility...

Is a mountain lion a threat to human safety simply because it is a mountain lion, in which case they theoretically should all be shot upon sight?

The article said nothing about livestock being killed or attacked, just that the mountain lion was on a man's property that had grazing cattle. Still sounds unwarranted to me.

[jdmidwest]

If a pedophile moves in next door, would you let your kids go play with him? He seems like a nice guy and has lots of candy.

Yeah, he could have been there stalking deer and the farmer thought his cows may be endangered, mistaken identity, sterotyping. But would you want to risk a few hundred dollars of your hard earned money and be wrong? The law of averages makes the mountain lion guilty by association.

One lost calf is like someone stealing your favorite top dollar fly rod while you are not looking. You would want to prosecute the thief. But the thief in this case will never pay restitution in a monetary means.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Where do you get it was a legal kill?

[Stoneroller]

i think it boils down to whether a person believes a mt. loin's life is ecologically more significant to the planet than that of a cow.

and lets just say for sake of argument there are 100 mt lions in missouri and 1 million cows. a cow is worth lets just say $1000. multiply $1000 by 1million, you get 1 billion, the 'worth' of 'all' the cows in missouri. now divide that 1 billion by 100 and you end up with $10 million, the hypothetical worth of 1 mt lion. so lets not waste anymore debate over the theoretical 'worth' of a cow of all things. a rancher should be happy to give up a couple of calves each year to support something as rare as a mt lion. hell those calves are probably subsidized by tax payer dollars and the herd probably grazes on public BLM land. consider it restitution for the fences, ground water pollution, stream bank erosion, siltation, overgrazing and basic environment destruction that the cattle are responsible for.

[jdmidwest]

Where do you get it was a legal kill?

Did you see any mention of tickets, charges, or wrongdoing? Did you see how this article included the regulations regarding protection of the personal property unlike the first.

[Terry Beeson]

Did you see any mention of tickets, charges, or wrongdoing? Did you see how this article included the regulations regarding protection of the personal property unlike the first.

Apparently, there is more to the story than what is in the paper/media...

[taxidermist]

Protecting his livestock. Thats a claim only he would know is right or wrong.

If you thought someone was about to take $1000. out of your wallet what would you do? Just stand there and allow it?

I some how doubt anyone will miss the cat.

[eric1978]

If you thought someone was about to take $1000. out of your wallet what would you do? Just stand there and allow it?

I wouldn't shoot him, that much I know. If I thought he was about to...would I allow what? He hasn't done anything. I thought you were innocent until proven guilty in this country? He should have called MDC and they could have tranquilized the cat and relocated it. There was no need to kill it.

And don't farmers have insurance anyway? What happens if a tornado comes through and wipes out an entire herd? You can't kill a tornado with a .22.