Cougar on trail camera in Ontonagon County

This trail camera video shows a cougar on private property in Ontonagon County in the western Upper Peninsula that was confirmed Sept. 12, 2011 by DNR wildlife biologists. This is the eighth time the DNR has been able to verify the presence of a cougar in the Upper Peninsula since 2008. The video, recorded on Sept. 8, 2011, shows the cougar walking directly toward the front of the camera and clearly showing it has an ear tag and a radio collar. Only western states currently have cougars collared for research projects, so it is possible that the animal traveled a great distance to reach the Upper Peninsula. We are in the process of tracking down where the cougar is from by contacting other states with known cougar populations and collaring activity. Established cougar populations are found as close to Michigan as North and South Dakota, and transient cougars dispersing from these areas have been known to travel hundreds of miles in search of new territory. For more information on identifying and reporting cougar sightings in Michigan, go to www.michigan.gov/cougars.

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Education

Tags:

• Michigan
• DNR
• cougar
• trailcam
• video
• mountain
• lion
• wildlife