State says ‘verified' cougar cubs photographed in Michigan
State biologists determined photos taken by an Ontonagon County resident on private land show the cougar cubs. The DNR said the cubs are believed to be between 7 to 9 weeks old.
The DNR says these big cats were 'hunted out of existence in Michigan in the early 1900s.'
'It's pretty exciting, considering this could be the first known cougar reproduction in modern times in the western Great Lakes states,' said Brian Roell, referring to Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Roell is a large carnivore specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 'It really shows that we have a unique place in Michigan where someone has a chance to see a wolf, a moose and a cougar in the wild. It's something that should be celebrated, that we have the habitat to support an elusive animal like this.'
Dec. 2020: Tracking Cougars in the U.P.: Michigan DNR shares confirmed sightings
Since the cubs were spotted and photographed without their mother, the DNR assumes the mother is alive in the area since cougar cubs are 'highly dependent on their mothers, often staying with them for the first two years of life.'
If you think you have seen a cougar, you can log the sighting in the DNR's Eyes in the Field reporting system.
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