LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — For the primary time in additional than 100 years, the Michigan Division of Pure Assets (DNR) says it has verified the existence of cougar cubs within the state.
State biologists decided pictures taken by an Ontonagon County resident on personal land present the cougar cubs. The DNR stated the cubs are believed to be between 7 to 9 weeks outdated.
State says ‘verified’ cougar cubs photographed in Michigan. (Photograph: MI DNR)
State says ‘verified’ cougar cubs photographed in Michigan. (Photograph: MI DNR)
State says ‘verified’ cougar cubs photographed in Michigan. (Photograph: MI DNR)
The DNR says these large cats had been “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,” stated Brian Roell, referring to Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Roell is a big carnivore specialist for the Michigan Division of Pure Assets. “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.”
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For the reason that cubs had been noticed and photographed with out their mom, the DNR assumes the mom is alive within the space since cougar cubs are “highly dependent on their mothers, often staying with them for the first two years of life.”
In the event you suppose you will have seen a cougar, you may log the sighting within the DNR’s Eyes within the Area reporting system.
