Wildlife & Encounters
What's new this year
Nothing about staying safe has changed — the advice is the same as it ever was. But a few current numbers are worth knowing, so here they are.
First, the reassuring part: nothing about staying safe has changed. Give animals space, don't feed them, and make the call when something goes wrong. What follows is just the latest count or context on a few things people ask about.
Black bears
Missouri is home to about 1,100 black bears.
They are mostly in the southern half of the state and expanding northward.
Ticks & alpha-gal
Missouri is a high-risk state for several tick-borne diseases.
Alpha-gal syndrome is an allergy to mammal products — beef, pork, lamb, and often dairy and gelatin, but NOT poultry or fish — triggered by Lone Star tick bites. It's increasingly diagnosed in Missouri.
Mountain lions
Still rare visitors, with no breeding population.
There have been more than 100 confirmed cases since 1994, and fewer than 1% of reports have enough evidence to confirm. Confirmed sightings continue, but a mountain lion in Missouri is a passing traveler, not a resident.
CWD in deer
Chronic wasting disease still shapes some local deer rules.
This is a deer-health issue, not a human-safety one. It mostly matters if you hunt or feed deer, and the current rules live on the Hunting hub.
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