There were nine confirmed mountain lion sightings in Missouri between January 3 and March 7, nearly doubling the state's entire 2022 total.
The two most recent sightings were caught by game cameras in Dallas County within two weeks of each other, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Three were in Franklin County, including a cougar that was hit by a vehicle on a highway.
Missouri, which had only five sightings last year in five different counties, has had 112 confirmed reports since 1994. Only a dozen or so have been spotted in southwest Missouri, and most have been in south central and southeastern Missouri.