Just to make a point… had this picture a couple weeks ago and it really looks like a mountain Lion.
HD photo shows clearly that it’s just a deer, but some would’ve sworn it was a Lion without the HD photo. 99.9% of sightings are just people mistakenly identifying another animal.


I do think we likely have transient cats moving through the state on occasion but not enough to legitimize every “sighting”. I found claw marks about 7.5 feet up a tree back in the summer in Marion County. I’ve heard of cats being documented being born in the Dakotas, moving through Canada, and getting hit by cars and killed in the NE United States.

Possible but not as common as the proposed sightings. I will venture to say we definitely don’t have any melanistic jaguars.