Posted by Skye on September 26, 2025, 1:39 pm Valued Poster
on the loose. Our neighbor said the other day that his daughter said she saw a mountain lion crossing both of our properties. Didn't think too much about it, but today I saw some tracks in the garden (which is not far from the house) that looked like they could have been of a mountain lion! Also saw some deer tracks in the garden. Kinda scary, as we frequently walk our little dogs.
In the rural areas mostly there are some sightings of some cougars passing through but there is no breeding groups. Bobcat and lynx are living here. An occasional bear in the suburbs.
I live in a very urban area but we have coyote, fox, and deer that frequent our neighborhood. We have many people raising hens of all sorts, many small dogs on the loose with many feral house cats too, but we also live close to major rivers that all kinds of wildlife lives because of parks and refuge along the rivers. I've relocated many squirrels for the bald eagles and hawks making a comeback in those areas.
I rescued a baby possum that was abandoned on my patio this spring. I think my dog spooked the mom as she was relocating.
Big cats are more likely to hunt small animals more than humans. Keep your poodles and yorkies inside.
When I lived in Florida gators liked the poodles and yorkies too.
live long and prosper as best you can Jacque
Sounds like....
Posted by Skye on September 27, 2025, 9:01 am, in reply to "Where I live" Valued Poster
you have lots of wildlife!
We have a border collie and two little dogs - cavaliers. We don't let the little ones go off leash, but we do with the collie. Maybe should keep her on a leash for awhile?
Our neighbors have horses, but they are big quarter horses... don't know if a mountain lion would go after them?
Did it have a massively long, thinnish tail? People sometimes confuse coyotes and
We saw one once in Vermont and another near our house years later. F&G loves to claim they and wolves are gone from the northeast, but it is not true. At the same time, people often confuse bobcats and coyotes with them, all being similar sizes. A fleeting glance comes down to the type of tail the critter has.
Arevyou very familiar with the footprints and spacing of mountain lions?
I'm not the one who saw it, but I did see the tracks....
The neighbor said his daughter saw it cross both of our properties, so it wasn't just a fleeting few seconds, and she swore it was a mountain lion. The tracks were too big to be from any dog, coyote or bob cat that I've ever seen around here. I googled on it, and while sightings are rare in Missouri, there ARE several confirmed sightings each year here. They love to eat deer, and we do have deer in our yard quite often. Come to think of it, I haven't seen nor heard coyotes for quite a long time, but the ones I have seen in the past are much smaller than what made those tracks I saw in our garden today.
I know the claim by some is that there aren't. But I've seen one - further north, and rather large. Coyotes and wolves have structural differences.
There have been other sightings too. There is no evidence of breeding packs here that I am aware of, but I believe they are making their way back.
There is a documented breeding pack in Canada, about 100 miles from the Canadian/US border. I suspect they are closer than that now. One hundred miles isn't really all that far away. They can travel up to 30 miles within one day. Territories tend to shift based on availability of food and water sources.
From NY State Department of Environmental Conservation:
"In 2001, a hunter shot a large (99-pound) male canine in Saratoga County, near the Adirondack Park boundary. Genetic testing proved that this animal was a gray wolf, and the animal's remains were confiscated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Further research conducted by scientists at the New York State Museum found that this wolf was apparently eating a wild diet."
"In 2021, a deer hunter in Otsego County shot and killed what he believed to be a coyote during the coyote hunting season. Closer inspection concluded that the animal was unusually large for a coyote, and the hunter contacted DEC. The male canine weighed 84 pounds, and samples were taken for DNA analysis. An initial DNA analysis concluded that the animal was an Eastern coyote with significant wolf ancestry; however, two follow-up analyses concluded that the animal was a wolf. The DNA tests likely provided different results because of the complicated nature of eastern canine DNA and the fact that a significant amount of interbreeding has occurred between coyotes and wolves throughout their ranges. However, based on the physical characteristics of the canine and the DNA results, DEC has concluded that this animal was a wolf."
on September 26, 2025, 1:39 pm
