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NEAR LAPLATA, MO. -- A Heartland couple tells KTVO they recently saw a mountain lion on their farm northeast of LaPlata, and they took a photograph of it.

Bill and Judy Shouse snapped the picture of the creature from about a quarter of a mile away.

Fact Finder made some calls to learn more about their sighting.

Judy Shouse said they took their photo to the Missouri Department of Conservation Department office in Kirksville, which then sent it to the Missouri Mountain Lion Response Team for evaluation.

Fact Finder spoke to Jeff Beringer, the chairman of the team, and he told us that he sent the photograph to all 12 members of the Mountain Lion Response Team for them to analyze.

Beringer said the dozen members unanimously agreed that they're pretty convinced it is a house cat and not a mountain lion that the Shouses photographed.

He told KTVO the experts use, among other things, head-to-body ratios and tail-length-to-body-length ratios to help them tell the difference between mountain lions and other types of cats.

In response to the team's verdict, Judy Shouse said she “knows what she saw.”

Beringer told Fact Finder that there are mountain lions that do come through Missouri from time to time, but he said they are males in search of a female.

He said they roam a very large area in search of a mate.

Beringer said they can be in Missouri one day and in another state the next day.

A neighbor of the Shouses also told Fact Finder he saw a mountain lion running through a field about a year ago as he was driving down a gravel road on his way to work.

The man spoke to us on condition of anonymity.

He said he first saw the animal out the corner of his eye, and he thought it was a dog.

He told Fact Finder the creature was about 300 yards from him.

Once he got a better look at it, he could definitely tell it was a mountain lion. He said it had a long tail that bounced distinctly as the big cat ran across the field.

The man said he’s hunted all of his life, and he has seen coyotes and bobcats and other wildlife, but what he saw that morning was a mountain lion.

If you have a mountain lion sighting to report, KTVO would love for you to tell us about it in the “Comment” section below.