Horse attacked; some residents blaming a cougar

ST. LOUIS -- Is a cougar stalking prey in eastern Missouri?

Some residents think so, following recent alleged attacks of a buffalo and a horse on separate but neighboring properties in Jefferson County, and following other sightings in recent months of a potentially dangerous animal that hasn't been indigenous to Missouri for more than 80 years.

"It can happen," Brad McCord of the Missouri Department of Conservation said Thursday. "We can't deny that mountain lions may travel through the state."

Cougar, mountain lion, puma, catamount -- it's all the same animal with different names. It was plentiful in Missouri until settlers began wiping out both the cougar and its prey, deer, in the 19th century. By 1927, the last indigenous cougar was gone.

That doesn't mean they don't occasionally make their way into Missouri from neighboring states. The Conservation Department gets hundreds of calls of cougar sightings each year. Most turn out to be other animals -- yellow labs, deer, even big house cats.

Still, 10 cougar sightings have been confirmed since the mid-1990s. And two of the animals have been killed by cars -- one near downtown Kansas City in 2002, one near Fulton in mid-Missouri a year later.

On Monday, a teenager at Rocking J Ranch near High Ridge said she witnessed a cougar on the back of a horse. She told the Conservation Department she got within a few feet of the attacking animal and swung a rope at it. She said the animal jumped down, roared at her, then took off.

"There's a mountain lion out there somewhere," stable owner Sue Johnson said, noting that a neighbor reported seeing one attacking one of his buffalo. "The Conservation Department needs to do something -- trap them or kill them or something."

In fact, the department has a Mountain Lion Response Team that looks into each sighting. In this case, the team determined the horse was probably not attacked by a cougar.

For one thing, the horse showed no signs of bite marks. Injuries to horses at the stable appeared to be those typical for horses -- for example, scrapes from rubbing against fences or debris.

The bite marks from a cougar are distinctive, and much larger than those from a dog, a bobcat or a coyote, said Tom Meister, a wildlife damage biologist for the Conservation Department.

"Besides, the cougar would go for the horse's neck -- it wouldn't jump on its back," he said.

Conservation officials say they take reported sightings seriously because residents need to be warned if cougars are in their area. But Meister said residents in Jefferson County, which has an abundance of horse stables and other animal-related operations, can relax.

"That whole community is absolutely freaking out," Meister said. "They're saying people are pulling their horses from the stables. We're saying, 'Wait. It's not that big a deal."'

Cougars weigh between 90 and 150 pounds, are 5 feet to 8 1/2 feet long with a 3-foot-long tail. They are reddish-tan in color.

The animals are nocturnal and elusive -- they try to avoid people.

Johnson said people in her area of Jefferson County believe a single cougar is roaming the region despite the Conservation Department's doubts about the Monday incident.

"It's scary, just the thought of that animal being around," she said.