Several stories about mountain lions are again in the news, and again there’s a Kansas twist.
CLICK HERE TO READ AN AUDUBON OF KANSAS RELEASE asking for better public understanding and compassion for a building mountain lion population in northern Nebraska. The big cats have steadily increased in that area the last few years, though it’s still a low population, as the reproducing population in the nearby Black Hills continues to send young animals wandering to possibly as far east as Connecticut.
CLICK HERE TO READ A STORY PUBLISHED ON THE SAME DAY I got the release from Audubon of Kansas, comes news of a mountain lion attacking a six-year-old boy in Big Bend National Park in Texas. The boy is recovering fine after his father used a pocket knife to fight-off the attacking cat. Texas authorities are still looking for the guilty mountain lion.
Attacks by mountain lions on humans are increasing nationwide but are considered to be very rare, even in areas with high mountain lion populations.
Audubon of Kansas has been involved in issues pertaining to mountain lions for several years, including a 2007 release stating they had the first “proof” of the big cats in the state in modern times.
CLICK HERE TO READ a release that was widely panned by biologists for an inconclusive photo and tracks that aren’t those of a mountain lion.
The first wild mountain lion documented in Kansas in more than 100 years was shot near Medicine Lodge that same year. Since, a total of about six mountain lions have been confirmed in the state via photographs and a GPS tracking collar on a cat from Colorado.