Wadsworth Trailer Park had an unusual resident in 1989. Bobo the mountain lion shared a home with Laura and Larry James and their daughter, Megan.
At 8 months old, Bobo had his own bedroom with a full-size bed and a stuffed Big Bird doll. His diet of 6 lbs. of cat food per day totaled a monthly grocery bill of $60, which is equivalent to $160 today.
The feline spent time outside chained up like an ordinary dog. One neighbor, Karen Dyer, said Bobo was easygoing and had seen him play-wrestle with the neighborhood kids. Other neighbors were not so enthusiastic. Reports of Bobo eyeing their children resulted in Bobo’s forced removal from the trailer park.
Although it was not illegal to own a mountain lion with proper facilities and a permit in 1989,
it is now. Both Missouri Statute 578.023 and the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act of 2022 closed the door on private mountain lion ownership.
This image is part of a much larger collection of historically rich photographs from the News-Leader’s photo archive. Each week, the Springfield-Greene County Library will tap into this vast collection and present an interesting image “from the darkroom" and share its history. This image is presented in partnership between the Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield News-Leader. For more historical images of the Ozarks, visit: thelibrary.org/fromthedarkroom.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: From the Darkroom highlights family that kept mountain lion in home
