New Mountain Lion Sighting

[Trevor K]

I've never seen a black panther in MO, but I have seen them in Chicago, Milwaukee, LA...

They are known to frequent larger cities with large African populations.

Keep your eyes open, you just might see one some day.

haha! That scene from Forrest Gump just popped into my head.

[Tim Smith]

There are black jaguars but no black...um...pumas.

That photo is in low light and it's hard to know what color or size that thing is. Were there paw prints to go with the photo?

[Outside Bend]

A mountain lion doesn't have to be tan, and if the state did have a very small resident population, it's possible inbreeding effects could play with the coloration quite a bit. Not saying it's definitely a lion, but it's certainly possible.

[Wayne SW/MO]

My thought is would a young male (which most are thought to be in Missouri)hang around the same place for a couple years without getting any booger? Makes me think it is either a female, a male who has set up territory here (making me think females are nearby), or an escaped pet (in which case I think it would be sighted very frequently). To my knowledge they haven't reported it to MDC (most govt. agencies not thought of highly in rural ozarks) so don't expect it to be in the news anytime soon.

First off the number one domestic animal that falls victim to big cats in OR is the Llama. I don't know if that's because there are lots of them or if it's because they resemble deer to the cats. The reason that young males are common is due to the family hierarchy. The story from Ray county failed to note that the dominate male always runs the young ones off. Females seem to wander off on their own, or so they say.

To put it all in perspective you have to go back to a "do-gooder" from CA who decided to campaign to stop hunting of bears and cats with dogs. She was very successful, especially with the use of USWS undercover films showing some cruel treatments, but never mentioning that it was all illegal hunting. In OR the magic number was 3000 and that was the number that determined permits issued for taking a lion. They felt that was a decent balance with the environment and the deer herd. The deer were considered because a lion will need about 50 a year to sustain it, or in OR, 150,000 deer! They still issue permits, but it's for sight or call only, and not many are bagged. This scenario has played out all over the west as more and more city dwellers who didn't hunt voted to stop the hunting with dogs. The result is that the cats need more and more room and deer. The young ones know how to hunt deer, but a dog, cat or calf isn't going to be turned down. I the 13 years I lived in OR I heard or read a lot of stories, but in spite of running with a lot of hunters and fishermen and spending a lot of time in some pretty wild country, I only heard about one sighting. We had 4 or 5 come through our barn lot, so they were in our backyard, but never saw one.

I would discount the photo because it could just as easily be a house cat given the fact there is no refernece.

[flytyer57]

I don't think the picture above is a house cat. Look at that tail. Long narrow and a little tuft of fur on the end. Most house cats have tails covered in fur and thusly would appear fuller than the tail of the cat in the pic.

[Justin Spencer]

Were there paw prints to go with the photo?

No there has been no follow up, people around here don't care if people believe them or not, they don't want any part of the govt. out prodding around and usually won't go to the trouble of finding other evidence themselves, and if they eat their livestock they'll most likely kill them and face the consequences if their are any. In this area we all believe there are a few lions around but most haven't had any problems with them (other than the llama guy) so why worry about it. As rare as bears are they are much more common than cats and rarely seen, so the odds of seeing, filming, or running over a cat are slim to none when fewer than 30 probably live in the entire state.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Most house cats have tails covered in fur and thusly would appear fuller than the tail of the cat in the pic.

Huh? Don't cougars have fur on their tail?

I don't think there is anything in that photo that gives a hint of what it is, other than a cat of some sort.

I disagree that they can't live here because of human activities. Overall there's very little interaction between us and Mtn lions. It's almost as if they don't like us.

[gotmuddy]

I've never seen a black panther in MO, but I have seen them in Chicago, Milwaukee, LA...

They are known to frequent larger cities with large African populations.

Keep your eyes open, you just might see one some day.

They are best seen at poling places on election day.

No there has been no follow up, people around here don't care if people believe them or not, they don't want any part of the govt. out prodding around

Sounds like your locals are just like mine. Maybe because you only live 30 miles from me.

[Chief Grey Bear]

That would be the shortest, fattest Mt. Lion ever in the wild. And the tail does not appear to be long enough. I say not a chance.

[Stoneroller]

here's the thing about wild cats vs domestic cats. the tail can be part of the key. a domestic cat typically has a tail that is around 1/2 the length of it's body. some may have a tail nearing 3/4th their body length but it's rarer for them to be that long. wild cats on the other hand (bobcat, serval, lynx, etc aside) have a tail that is typically 3/4ths to full length.

I still think it's chupacabra.