![Cougars Rolling East]()
This mountain lion was caught on a game cam in Missouri as it fed on an elk calf carcass. (Courtesy Missouri Dept. of Conservation)
By Steve Rogers, Outdoor Channel
Ready or not, mountain lions are headed back to the Midwest.
More than a century after they were eradicated in the middle portion of the United States, and about 40 years after states began recognizing them as a game species rather than a nuisance animal, mountain lion numbers are growing in areas outside of the West, their typical U.S. stronghold.
"The question now is how the public will respond after living without large carnivores for a century," said Michelle LaRue, a research fellow for the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota. "We believe public awareness campaigns and conservation strategies are required across these states."
Due to hunting...