Post by Woody Williams on Dec 20, 2006 17:08:00 GMT -5
….in Missouri
Dec. 15 All Outdoors
Conservation Department confirms mountain lion sightings
Livingston and Shannon counties are the latest locales with conclusive evidence.
CHILLICOTHE, Mo.-The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed
the ninth and 10th documented mountain lion occurrences in the Show-Me
State in modern times.
The most recent confirmed report of a mountain lion in Missouri came in
the form of a photograph taken Dec. 7 by an automatic trail camera. A
bowhunter, Joe Neis, placed the camera on private land in Livingston
County north of Chillicothe to monitor deer activity. He told
investigators he had no idea the cat was in the area before the trail
camera captured its image.
Conservation Department Resource Scientist Dave Hamilton announced the
confirmation after he and other members of Missouri's Mountain Lion
Response Team visited the site where the photo was taken and verified
that evidence at the scene confirmed the authenticity of the photo.
The photo shows an apparently healthy mountain lion walking past the
camera. The cat has dark spots on the insides of its front legs,
indicating it is less than 2 years old. Hamilton estimated its weight at
110 to 120 pounds.
The other confirmation was based on an incident that occurred in
November on private land in Shannon County. A hunter shot a doe at dusk
and decided to wait until the next day to track and retrieve the deer.
When he did, he found the carcass had been partially devoured. Closer
examination by Conservation Department investigators showed convincing
evidence that the wounded deer had been killed by a big cat and then fed
upon.
"We have long been expecting the next mountain lion sighting in
Missouri," said Hamilton. "It was overdue. We were averaging about
one a year, and we have missed three years. It looks like it is evening
out."
The Mountain Lion Response Team, headed by Hamilton, investigates many
mountain lion reports each year. The Conservation Department formed the
group in 1996 to ensure that all citizen reports are recorded and that
timely investigations are conducted where physical evidence may exist.
Most reports either cannot be verified or are found to involve other
animals, such as dogs, deer, coyotes and bobcats. Surprisingly, house
cats often are misidentified as mountain lions.
"Dog tracks account for more mistaken reports of mountain lions,"
said Hamilton. "Unlike mountain lion tracks, which seldom show claw
marks, dog tracks usually do. That is an easy giveaway. House cats can
be tricky for some, though."
Domestic cats' body shape and behavior are enough like those of
mountain lions to create the potential for mistaken identity. When seen
at a distance in an open field, often through the lenses of binoculars,
rifle scopes or cameras, the illusion can be convincing.
"While part of the team was investigating the two sightings we
eventually confirmed, others were following up on a report from Clark
County that involved a video tape," said Hamilton. "The tape had
been around for a year or so and had been seen by a lot of people. It
was widely viewed as being a mountain lion, but it turned out to be
another of many videos of an ordinary house cat."
Techniques used to tell the difference between photos of mountain lions
and house cats include analyzing the ratio of body and head size,
thickness of body, the shape of the back when the cat is seated on its
haunches, and other body conformation factors.
"Those tests are fairly simple to apply to photographs when you are
sitting in an office," said Hamilton. "Trying to do the same thing
with a living animal in the field sometimes is more difficult. It is not
surprising that people get fooled."
Mountain lions also are called cougars, pumas or panthers. So far,
confirmed sightings support the theory that mountain lions seen in
Missouri migrated here from western states. Hamilton noted that young
males typically leave their birth areas looking for territories of their
own, and often wander hundreds of miles before settling down.
"That is consistent with what we have documented in Missouri," he
said. "A wealth of evidence leads us to believe that Missouri does not
have an established, breeding population of mountain lions, just
individuals filtering in from the west."
In addition to evidence that cougars found in Missouri are mostly young
males, Hamilton points to a significant lack of evidence of an
established population in Missouri. "In areas with breeding
populations, physical evidence is very easy to find," he said. "You
see lots of tracks. You find deer carcasses with the unique signs of
mountain lion kills, and you see cougars of all ages, from cubs to
adults, killed by cars. We don't see any of those things in
Missouri."
Dec. 15 All Outdoors
Conservation Department confirms mountain lion sightings
Livingston and Shannon counties are the latest locales with conclusive evidence.
CHILLICOTHE, Mo.-The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed
the ninth and 10th documented mountain lion occurrences in the Show-Me
State in modern times.
The most recent confirmed report of a mountain lion in Missouri came in
the form of a photograph taken Dec. 7 by an automatic trail camera. A
bowhunter, Joe Neis, placed the camera on private land in Livingston
County north of Chillicothe to monitor deer activity. He told
investigators he had no idea the cat was in the area before the trail
camera captured its image.
Conservation Department Resource Scientist Dave Hamilton announced the
confirmation after he and other members of Missouri's Mountain Lion
Response Team visited the site where the photo was taken and verified
that evidence at the scene confirmed the authenticity of the photo.
The photo shows an apparently healthy mountain lion walking past the
camera. The cat has dark spots on the insides of its front legs,
indicating it is less than 2 years old. Hamilton estimated its weight at
110 to 120 pounds.
The other confirmation was based on an incident that occurred in
November on private land in Shannon County. A hunter shot a doe at dusk
and decided to wait until the next day to track and retrieve the deer.
When he did, he found the carcass had been partially devoured. Closer
examination by Conservation Department investigators showed convincing
evidence that the wounded deer had been killed by a big cat and then fed
upon.
"We have long been expecting the next mountain lion sighting in
Missouri," said Hamilton. "It was overdue. We were averaging about
one a year, and we have missed three years. It looks like it is evening
out."
The Mountain Lion Response Team, headed by Hamilton, investigates many
mountain lion reports each year. The Conservation Department formed the
group in 1996 to ensure that all citizen reports are recorded and that
timely investigations are conducted where physical evidence may exist.
Most reports either cannot be verified or are found to involve other
animals, such as dogs, deer, coyotes and bobcats. Surprisingly, house
cats often are misidentified as mountain lions.
"Dog tracks account for more mistaken reports of mountain lions,"
said Hamilton. "Unlike mountain lion tracks, which seldom show claw
marks, dog tracks usually do. That is an easy giveaway. House cats can
be tricky for some, though."
Domestic cats' body shape and behavior are enough like those of
mountain lions to create the potential for mistaken identity. When seen
at a distance in an open field, often through the lenses of binoculars,
rifle scopes or cameras, the illusion can be convincing.
"While part of the team was investigating the two sightings we
eventually confirmed, others were following up on a report from Clark
County that involved a video tape," said Hamilton. "The tape had
been around for a year or so and had been seen by a lot of people. It
was widely viewed as being a mountain lion, but it turned out to be
another of many videos of an ordinary house cat."
Techniques used to tell the difference between photos of mountain lions
and house cats include analyzing the ratio of body and head size,
thickness of body, the shape of the back when the cat is seated on its
haunches, and other body conformation factors.
"Those tests are fairly simple to apply to photographs when you are
sitting in an office," said Hamilton. "Trying to do the same thing
with a living animal in the field sometimes is more difficult. It is not
surprising that people get fooled."
Mountain lions also are called cougars, pumas or panthers. So far,
confirmed sightings support the theory that mountain lions seen in
Missouri migrated here from western states. Hamilton noted that young
males typically leave their birth areas looking for territories of their
own, and often wander hundreds of miles before settling down.
"That is consistent with what we have documented in Missouri," he
said. "A wealth of evidence leads us to believe that Missouri does not
have an established, breeding population of mountain lions, just
individuals filtering in from the west."
In addition to evidence that cougars found in Missouri are mostly young
males, Hamilton points to a significant lack of evidence of an
established population in Missouri. "In areas with breeding
populations, physical evidence is very easy to find," he said. "You
see lots of tracks. You find deer carcasses with the unique signs of
mountain lion kills, and you see cougars of all ages, from cubs to
adults, killed by cars. We don't see any of those things in
Missouri."
