The majority of newspaper writers are ignorant about wildlife issues and do not research the views of the folks that they interview for their stories.............So as a result, the Missouri paper that reported on yet another confirmed Puma sighting in Shannon County(Sept 10 & 11) leads readers to fear the potential return of the big "Cats"...............At least they correctly quote COUGAR REWILDING and the MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION which reinforced the fact that until some female Pumas get the itch to wander into Missouri, the "bachelor males" that are semi-regularly dispersing from the Black Hills in South Dakota are destined to live a loners life

Another Mountain Lion Caught on Camera Last Week in Shannon County

By Nicholas Phillips; riverfronttimes.com

 

ROWR! Another mountain lion was prowling in Shannon County last week

They keep coming.

The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed that the animal in the photo to the right is indeed a mountain lion.  It was photographed September 10 and 11 by a wildlife cam on public land near Eminence.

According to MDC, "widely scattered mountain-lion sightings have been confirmed in Missouri and likely will continue." But there's a key reason why we probably shouldn' be too worried yet.

(And we got this stuff from the Cougar Rewilding Foundation and the Mountain Lion Foundation:

These feline visitors to Missouri are mostly males dispersing from western areas such as the Black Hills area of South Dakota.  They're hunting for sexy females to breed with.
But the females haven't arrived yet; generally, they disperse much more slowly.  So in order for any kind of mountain lion population to take hold in Missouri, a male and an intrepid female will have to somehow find each other in Missouri and start a family.

No evidence that it's happened yet.

In the meantime, the MDC wants you to keep the following in mind:

Mountain lions are naturally shy of humans and generally pose little danger to people, even in states with thriving breeding populations. Although mountain lions are protected by law, Missouri's Wildlife Code does allow people to protect themselves and their property if they feel threatened.