SHANNON COUNTY, Mo. -- Another mountain lion was spotted in the southern part of Missouri. This confirmed by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) said this was the 117th mountain lion confirmation in Missouri.
Reports first started coming out about the mountain lion sighting on September 12. That's when the members of MDC's Large Carnivore Response Team went out to the area and confirmed the sighting of the large cat later that day.
They looked at trail images and confirmed the mountain lion was in the area and that it returned back to an adult elk carcass to feed.
鈥淢ountain lions are natural predators to elk, and this scenario is nothing to be concerned about,鈥� says MDC Furbearer Biologist Nate Bowersock. 鈥淗ere in Missouri, we have an abundant of natural foods for mountain lions. While we do get questions regarding livestock, there has never been a confirmed instance of a mountain lion killing livestock in Missouri.鈥�
MDC said while mountain lions are known to travel through the state of Missouri, there is no known breeding population in the state.
Staff members with MDC did collect some genetic samples from the site and they are in the process of analyzing the samples to learn more about the animal, such as the sex of the mountain lion.
Most of the mountain lions in Missouri are males, MDC said.
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