Why Is Missouri So Afraid to Admit Mountain Lions Live Here?

I really don't want to sound like one of those people who never trusts our government, but there are some legitimate questions about why the state of Missouri seems so afraid to admit that mountain lions roam among us.

Let's begin with what the Missouri Department of Conservation will admit about mountain lions in the state - Here are all the confirmed sightings over the years

As of the date of this writing, this is the last mountain lion sighting that the Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed. Yes, this was nearly two years ago.

I am aware of numerous reported mountain lion sightings over the past two years including the drone video of a mountain lion near deer from central Missouri in October of this year. The guy who shared that video said the Missouri Department of Conservation had been contacted and they were investigating. The Columbia Daily Tribune reported that the MDC did confirm this sighting, but it's still not a part of public record that I can find. There was also a mountain lion sighting near St. Joseph a few months ago that was also investigated by the MDC, but it remains not confirmed according to their own website.

Missouri sure has a lot of mountain lion sightings for a state where these big cats aren't supposed to be

I have lost count of how many comments on our Facebook page report mountain lion sightings in different parts of Missouri.

Why does Missouri seem so afraid to admit there are mountain lions in our state?

Let me be clear that I am not inferring that the Missouri Department of Conservation is trying to hide something from us. It's possible that no one is updating their mountain lion sightings page frequently now, but there seems to be a general uneasiness about admitting the number of mountain lions in Missouri. I also understand that they have clearly stated that there are no known mountain lion habitats in Missouri and they may be accurate saying that. However, I think they downplay the number of mountain lions that travel across Missouri and I don't know why that is. I understand that they may be trying to avoid causing alarm, but I think that increasing the awareness of the public to the reality that mountain lions often are somewhere in the woods of Missouri even if they're just traveling and not making a habitat there. I think more transparency about these big cats in Missouri would benefit everyone.