When I was growing up I used to dream of seeing Wolves or Mountain Lions in Kansas, even though I knew they'd been exterminated many years ago. Even animals like deer and turkey were rare until I was well into my 20's. Some years ago I worked with a woman in Augusta who told me the last bear in Kansas was killed on her property east of Augusta in 1959, which also happens to have been the year I was born. Though there still aren't bears around, there are plenty of deer and turkey, and several reliable people have told me they've seen Mountain Lions here... now I've never actually seen one, though I've seen tracks and actually heard one screaming one night very near to me when I was fishing on the Walnut river. Talk about being petrified! I was so scared walking home as I knew I'd be a big cat's dinner before I made it to the house!
I'm still hoping Wolves are reintroduced to the state someday, though with all the ranchers around that's probably a pipe dream.
2 comments:
I saw a lynx waking along a country road between Minneola and Ashland back in 2000. My dad has seen several mountain lions in Clark County, and I saw one that had been killed along the highway toward Wichita (2011).
I've heard so many stories of reliable witnesses seeing big cats all over the state. It's hard to believe the KDWP officers don't seem to notice them.
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