New Neighbors!

We may have new animal neighbors moving into Missouri. There have been reports of mountain lions sighted in the forest areas around the state. They are hard to spot, though. Mountain lions tend to be private creatures that shy away from loud, busy areas. When hunting deer and other animals about that size or smaller, they stay low in the underbrush to sneak up on prey. This behavior makes them even more difficult to find. However, these beautiful cats have been seen on game cameras and fur traces have confirmed their presence.

After being heavily hunted and driven out of the state, mountain lions have not been a Missouri native since the 1920s, but there are established breeding populations in our neighboring states. These new sightings could mean that a breeding female may move in within the next decade and establish a population in our state. However, they may just be passing through. Female mountain lions have a home range of about 80 miles which means our sightings are most likely males. Males are territorial and have a home range of anywhere from 90 miles to hundreds of miles, which could span all of Missouri. So our new neighbors may be young males that were driven away by alpha males.

These animals are sometimes seen as a nuisance by livestock owners, which is the reason they were originally driven out of the state. Now, they are a protected animal helping to reestablish their presence, which used to span unbroken the southern tip of Mexico up into Canada. They are a predator, so in the rare case you may come upon one, please give it respect and space. If you make loud noises and stand your ground, they scare off easily as most wildlife does. They are being courteous neighbors by leaving us, our pets, and our livestock alone. So we need to be good neighbors and welcome them back home.