Missouri is popular with cougars

Missouri was a popular destination for cougars last year, with the large cats padding from Colorado, South Dakota and central Montana to get here.

Most sightings cannot be verified, said Bill Graham, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Conservation, but 14 cases were solid in 2011. This is a big deal because only a dozen cougars were confirmed in the state over the last 16 years.

DNA tests on four showed that two originally were from the Black Hills: One was shot by a Ray County racoon hunter in January 2011; the other by a Texas County homeowner last September. The third young male killed by coyote hunters in January 2011 in Macon County was traced to central Montana.

The survivor left his DNA in a tuft of hair on a barbed-wire fence, found after the cat ran in front of a motorist in Oregon County. This cat was also male, and that is no coincidence.

Male cougars tend to wander from their home territories when they mature. These large cats strike out in search of food, shelter and females, while also avoiding turf occupied by older males. Cougars eat white-tail deer, mice and rabbits, Graham said.

Secretive by nature, the big cats mostly keep to riverbanks and wooded areas, usually avoiding humans and their barking dogs.

"Large carnivores have big home ranges," added Jeff Beringer, a scientist at the department, "and males disperse long distances in search of females. It seems logical that the rate of dispersal would be greater when cats have repopulated available habitat in neighboring states, but there is an innate drive to travel."

Females tend to stay in the same area they were born in, he said, and the cougars are naturally wired to move away from relatives to avoid inbreeding.

Because no known females are in Missouri, the cougars likely remain lonely. Beringer said there is a high mortality rate among the dispersing males.

Beringer and his colleagues are puzzled by last year's number. The most sightings documented by the department in any other year were two, in 2006 and 2010.

Just three are confirmed so far this year: Motion-activated cameras snapped one in Grundy County in April and another in Reynolds County in January. The third, also in Reynolds County the same month, found himself in a game trap. DNA indicated he was about 2 years old, with no signs of having been in captivity. Where he originated from is not known.

The department has a mountain lion response team to gather reports on cougars and investigate when there's physical evidence.

Sightings can be reported by email to mountain.lion@mdc.mo.gov.

"Increased public awareness and the growing popularity of trail cameras might account for part of the increase in sightings," said Beringer, "but last year's spike is hard to explain. What we know for sure is that mountain lions are travelling a long way to get here."

John Ngirachu is an Alfred Friendly Fellow from the Daily Nation in Nairobi, Kenya. To reach him, call 816-234-4366 or email jngirachu@kcstar.com.

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