The mountain lion (or puma,
panther, and various other names) is the largest of the three wildcats
documented in Iowa. They probably
occurred throughout the state, but nowhere in great numbers. The last historical record of a mountain lion
in Iowa appears to be one shot near Cincinnati in Appanoose County in 1867.
Since
the mid-1990’s the DNR has received several reports of large “cat” type
sightings to lead us to believe that “free ranging” mountain lions may be
occurring in the state. These “free
ranging” mountain lions could be either escapees or released animals under
private ownership or animals moving in from western and southern United States. Southeast South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, northeast Kansas, and northern Missouri have reported increasing mountain lion sightings
during the past 5 years.
Figure
1 is a map showing confirmed tracks, reported observations that appear to be
credible, confirmed mountain lion tracks, a visual sighting, and a roadkill
near Harlan that could possibly be a wild mountain lion that has roamed into
the state. The roadkilled animal in Jasper County was not reported to the DNR until after the roadkill
near Harlan. This animal was exhumed and
a close inspection of the remains showed the animal had been declawed
indicating that it must have been a captive animal at one time. The confirmed sighting in Ringgold County was observed by DNR personnel and a mountain lion
scat was collected at that observation site.
We have several instances of deer hunters seeing partially eaten deer
covered by grass and other debris. This
is somewhat typical of how Mountain Lions cache their prey but some bobcats
also will similarly cover their prey.
Currently
the mountain lion has no legal status in the Iowa Code thus they are not given
any sort of protection by Iowa
law. During the 2002 legislative
session, some efforts will be made to designate the mountain lion as a
furbearer thus allowing the DNR to properly manage this species should their
numbers increase and not allow the indiscriminate killing of these animals
unless they are about to cause damage or injury to property or persons.
Professor
James Mahaffy of Dordt College has created a web site on Mountain Lion sightings in Northwest Iowa. He has
recorded several sightings along the Big Sioux and Doon Rivers and into the eastern edge of South Dakota. Numerous other mountain lion sightings have been
generated from these reports. We
attempted to map only those most credible reports.
