NEAR ECONOMY, MO. -- Based on photos of paw prints taken by a landowner, the Missouri Department of Conservation has confirmed the presence of a mountain lion in northern Macon County.
Rex Martensen, a member of the Conservation Department's Mountain Lion Response Team, said the landowner found large, cat-like tracks in a muddy creek bed while hunting mushrooms on April 20.
That was near the town of Economy, which is about three-and-a-half miles east of Atlanta.
Before a member of the Response Team could visit the site, rain had washed away the tracks.
Despite that, Martensen said the tracks in the photo closely match the characteristics of mountain lion paw prints.
He said the team needed no further evidence to confirm the presence of a mountain lion.
Martensen added that the one thing in the pictures that stood out was the lack of claw marks.
“Even if a dog has well-worn toenails, as deep as these tracks went into the mud, you would have seen those pretty clear,” said Martensen.
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