SHANNON COUNTY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed a mountain lion killed an adult elk this month in Shannon County.
The successful hunt is the sign of a trend in which species that were temporarily extinct in the state are making a return. For a time, neither mountain lions nor elk existed at all in Missouri, as far as anyone knew. But both species are native to Missouri, and both appear to be making a comeback.
The Missouri Department of Conservation reintroduced elk into the state in 2011. The MDC notes Lewis and Clark mentioned seeing elk while journeying through Missouri. The newly introduced elk population lives in the southern part of the state, in and around Peck Creek Conservation Area, a more-than-23,000-acre managed region in Carter County, in the Missouri Ozarks.
Mountain lions are more sparse across the state, but the MDC’s website shows more than a dozen sightings have been confirmed in nine different counties in 2023. All of those sightings were on game cameras except the most recent elk killing and an incident in January where a mountain lion was hit and injured by a vehicle.
Mountain lion sightings have been confirmed throughout Missouri, though the heaviest concentration has been in the southeastern quadrant of the state, in an area that overlaps where the MDC has reintroduced elk.
The MDC has also reported black bears are returning to Missouri, estimating the state’s black bear population at around 1,000.
At Lake of the Ozarks, wildlife roams in abundance. From diverse aquatic critters to birds a…
Native to the rainforest, these critters have some bizarre abilities.
CAMDENTON, Mo. — A black bear has become something of a local celebrity in Camdenton, making…
