Central Midwest

The Cougar Network has documented many confirmations from the states of Iowa and Missouri in the western part of the Central Midwest Region (See interactive map below). To get detailed information for a particular incident, click on the respective dot. A summary of the evidence from each state can be found below the map.

Confirmation Map

Confirmation Map

Iowa and Missouri, the western part of the region, are adjacent to the prairie states that appear to have thin cougar populations expanding from the west.

Iowa, which is adjacent to South Dakota and Nebraska with acknowledged populations, has had a number of recent confirmed sightings, and the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) suspects the presence of transient animals passing through the state. Three apparently wild cougars have been killed in the state since August 2001.

Similarly, there have been ten recent confirmations in Missouri, two of which were in late 2006, and the wildlife authorities recognize a small presence in that state. In both states, it appears that these confirmations are of transients, as there is no evidence of a breeding population. Two recent confirmations in Missouri were road-killed animals. In October 2002, a young  125-pound male cougar was hit by a car and killed in the Kansas City area.  Necropsy and DNA test results indicated that this was a wild cougar. In August 2003, a young 105-pound male cougar was hit by a car and killed near Fulton in Callaway County. Necropsy results on this second road-kill also indicated wild origin (see article).

Illinois has had three recent confirmations, the most recent one in early 2008 being the most extraordinary -- a cougar shot in Chicago! DNA analysis said this was the same cat that had been confirmed earlier in southeast Wisconsin.  In July 2002, a male cougar was killed by a train in Randolph County in the southwestern portion of the state.  Analysis of the carcass indicated it was of North American genotype and that it had been feeding on white tailed deer (click here for paper). There was no evidence that this animal was ever in captivity. This appears to be a transient which traveled through Missouri which is just across the border.  A second male cougar was killed by a bowhunter in December 2004 in New Boston (northwestern, ILL). 

The remaining three central midwest states, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, have had some sighting reports but no confirmations to date.

Conclusions

The presence of a number of confirmations in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois in recent years suggests that transients are starting to reach those states from the adjacent prairie states which themselves are in the process of being repopulated. There is no  hard evidence of cougars in the other states in this region.