By Kate Miller, Managing Editor
Mountain lions were thought to have been extinct in Missouri but now they’re passing through.Last week, on Jan. 21, a motorist struck and killed a mountain lion on Interstate 70 between Wright City and Warrenton and continued driving. The driver hasn’t been identified. A passerby called the Missouri Department of Conservation.Bob Lyons is the conservation agent for Warren County. Lyons said he suspects the driver thought he or she hit a deer. It would seem like a logical conclusion. Most Missourians don’t see mountain lions running wild, although that used to be the case.“They were once native here,” Lyons said. “The ones we’ve found here, that have been killed by vehicles, they’re young males and we know from their DNA that they’ve traveled here from South Dakota.“They were kicked out of their areas by the older males and they’re looking for a mate to establish their own territory,” he added. “They followed the Missouri River corridor where there’s lots of food and water and everything they need to survive.”In the late 1920s, hunters in Missouri made the animal a forgotten breed in the state. Bobcats, at about one-fourth the size and far less intimidating to look at, remained. But since 1994 the Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed 64 mountain lions sightings across the state. Three of those were in Warren County. This one brings the number to four.The Missouri Department of Conservation is documenting and studying the big cats they find. So far, Lyons said, there is no evidence of females or breeding populations or increasing numbers.“The (encounters) here are so random,” he said. “It’s males looking for mates, but they won’t be able to find them because there are no females.” He added that the animal is nocturnal and doesn’t want to deal with humans. The mountain lion is more likely to avoid or hide from humans than approach them. The animal that was killed Jan. 21 was taken to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Research Center in Columbia.For more information about mountain lions in Missouri or to report evidence of a mountain lion, visit mdc.mo.gov or call 573-522-4115, ext. 3693.This mountain lion, a young male, lost his life Jan. 21 after being struck by a car on Interstate 70 between Warrenton and Wright City. Submitted photo.