58 Mountain Lions of the Black Hills
Montana, to the Judith Mountains in Montana (Thompson and Jenks 2010; fig. 4.11),
and more recently, to the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming, to Saskatoon, Saskatche-
wan, and to Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota. Because these movements were so
extensive and involved so many surrounding states and provinces, just about every lion
documented east of the Black Hills was linked to our work or to the Black Hills re-
gion. For example, a lion that was believed to have moved through Wisconsin and was
subsequently killed in downtown Chicago was linked to the Black Hills. Although it
was not collared, the cat was linked genet ically to the Black Hills, based on work we
were conducting at that time (see chapter 7; Thompson 2009; Juarez et al. 2016). A
lion killed by a vehicle in Connecticut also was linked genet ically to the Black Hills
region, using the same methods (Hawley et al. 2016). At the time, Missouri was re-
ceiving reports of mountain lions, and although undocumented, these reports also
were anecdotally linked to the Black Hills. Despite these close ties to the Black Hills,
other mountain lion studies were being conducted in Colorado and Montana, and
mountain lions collared in Colorado were traveling through western Nebraska. These
lions likely traveled farther east and could be responsible for some of the dispersers
establishing east of the Black Hills region.
figure 4.11. Documented dispersals of radio- collared mountain lions from the Black
Hills region. Adapted from Thompson and Jenks 2010.