DNR Has Video Of Cougar In Upper Peninsula

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has been keeping track of deer movement in the Upper Peninsula's Gogebic County when they noted a cougar in footage capture on the cam earlier this month.

Video of the mountain lion was taken about nine miles north of Ironwood and has been verified as the real deal by the DNR's cougar team.

In a report released by the DNR, they say:

Since 2008, the DNR has confirmed 38 cougar reports, with all but one of those occurring in the Upper Peninsula. These reports include multiple sightings of the same cougar, not 38 individual animals.

So far, there remains no conclusive evidence of a Michigan breeding population of mountain lions. Cougars are an endangered species in Michigan protected by law.

“This latest confirmed report illustrates just how rare cougars are in the Upper Peninsula,” said Brian Roell, a DNR wildlife biologist in Marquette. “This is the first time we’ve ever caught a cougar on more than three million game camera images we’ve collected in our studies since 2009.”

We got a call at WMMQ last year from 'Alex' about two cougars spotted at Sleepy Hollow, north of Lansing. Wondering if anyone's spotted any evidence of the cougars this year...?

Our resident wildlife expert, Duran Martinez, has the story from the DNR here about those Bath Township cougar sightings last year.