COLUMBIA, MO. -- A Northwest Missouri farmer shot and killed a mountain lion on his Ray County farm Sunday night.
Bob Littleton said he shot the male mountain lion with a friend’s rifle because the predator was attacking his cattle.
Members of the Missouri Conservation Department’s Mountain Lion Response Team examined the animal’s body on Monday afternoon at their facility on the MU Campus.
Team members verify any rare sightings of mountain lions in Missouri.
The mountain lion weighs about 115 pounds.
It could be the same mountain lion that was spotted in a tree several months ago in nearby Platte County.
Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer said, “We went to that site and climbed up that tree. We were actually able to get some hair. We sent that hair off for DNA analysis. We are going to compare it with this cat.”
Beringer says the male mountain lion was most likely looking for a mate in Northwest Missouri.
It is very rare for mountain lions to reproduce in the Show-Me State.
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