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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions. This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization. Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

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Friday, July 7, 2017

Since 2008, a total of 36 Puma sightings have been documented in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula...........Two weeks ago, on June 21, the Dept. of Natural Resources confirmed it's first Puma sighiting in the Lower Peninsula(Clinton County) in over 100 years.................A "prospector" from the Black Hills of South Dakota or from Nebraska---- (or)----- a released circus animal or pet?,,,,,,,,,,,,,No way to know as long as the "cat" stays alive.................And here is hoping that he(she) in fact never does become a "CSI" lab speciman!


Wildlife officials confirm cougar sighting in Michigan's Lower Peninsula

 JUN 29, 2017


For the first time in more than 100 years, a cougar has officially been found in Michigan's Lower Peninsula.The Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed the presence of a cougar in Bath Township, Clinton County.
Look closely and you will see the Puma walking right
behind the mailbox on right side of road







A photo of the cougar was captured by a Haslett resident near the Rose Lake Wildlife Area on June 21. After a field investigation, the MDNR confirmed that the animal was indeed a cougar, also commonly referred to as a mountain lion.
In a statement, MDNR wildlife specialist Kevin Swanson said, "Even with this verification, questions remain, especially regarding the origins of the animal. There is no way for us to know if this animal is a dispersing transient from a western state, like cougars that have been genetically tested from the Upper Peninsula, or if this cat was released locally."

Lower Peninsula Puma sighting(red dot)











More from the MDNR press release:
Cougars originally were native to Michigan, but were extirpated from Michigan around the turn of the century. The last time a wild cougar was legally taken in the state was near Newberry in 1906. Over the past few years, numerous cougar reports have been received from various locations throughout Michigan. Until this time, all confirmed sightings or tracks have been in the Upper Peninsula. Since 2008 a total of 36 cougar sightings have been documented in Michigan’s U.P. To date, the DNR has not confirmed a breeding population of cougars in Michigan.
Cougars are protected under the Endangered Species Act, and interactions with humans are extremely rare.
Kevin Swanson says the MDNR frequently gets phone calls from Michigan residents who say they've seen a cougar. 
"But most of those sightings are actually house cats," Swanson said.
Officials are requesting that citizens submit photos of possible sightings for verification, and that any physical evidence of a cougar such as tracks remain undisturbed. 

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