Cougar sighting reported in Mich.'s U.P.

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Students who head up north for the holidays might see more than just deer and squirrels in the trees of the Upper Peninsula.

Earlier this fall, a cougar sighting was documented in the U.P., which was the first confirmed sighting in Michigan in more than a century. A private landowner took a photo, and the photo has been confirmed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, or DNR.

Another private landowner in the surrounding area reported what was suspected to be cougar tracks on the property.

“We got out to the site and looked at the tracks and identified (them), and took some measurements to look for key characteristics of the tracks,” DNR biologist Kristie Sitar said.

The prints were confirmed as those of a cougar. Three other sets of prints were confirmed in March, June and September of 2008 in the U.P., but there were no confirmed sightings at those times.

Reports of cougar sightings in Michigan are not uncommon, Sitar said. She said the department receives about one report of a cougar sighting in Michigan each week.

“Many times, someone has a photo or a track, or anything like that. We look at every single one of those,” she said. “Believe it or not, we get a lot of photos of house cats. (You) wouldn’t think it’d be an easy mistake to make, but lots of
people make it.”

There have been reports of cougars in the Lower Peninsula, but nothing has been confirmed. The cougars could migrate to the Lower Peninsula from the U.P. during the winter when the lakes freeze, Sitar said.

Dennis Fijalkowski, executive director of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, said he thinks the existence of cougars in the Lower Peninsula is a definite possibility.

“There are cougars in East Lansing,” Fijalkowski said. “It’s been known for some time we have a cougar. We call it the Red Cedar cat and he’s been seen numerous times.”

Fijalkowski said he believes cougars have been in the Lower Peninsula since the late 1940s and he said they have been expanding with the deer population.

Before the Oct. 26 sighting, the last confirmed cougar sighting in Michigan was in the U.P. in 1906, Sitar said. She said she believes the closest population is in South Dakota, and she doesn’t believe there is a population big enough to be identified in Michigan.

A population would imply the cougars are reproducing, and there is not confirmed
evidence the cougars in Michigan are breeding, Sitar said.

“We’d probably have road kill,” she said.

Cougars from the South Dakota population might have migrated to the U.P. and other Midwestern states in an attempt to find a mate, Sitar said.

Even if there are cougars in the Lower Peninsula, zoology professor Kay Holekamp said she doesn’t believe they
are a threat.

“Every once and a while an event occurs, but a cougar would much rather tangle with a deer than a human. I think it would be a waste of time for people to get upset about it,” she said.

Still, the prospect of a Red Cedar cat doesn’t sit well with some MSU students.

“I’m not really concerned (about the confirmed U.P. sighting),” psychology senior Krystle Kelley said. “But I do feel sorry for the people in the U.P. If I lived there, I would
be scared.”

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