Posted on 12/21/2009 7:56:50 AM PST by earlJam
Hundreds of people in Southwest Michigan claim to have seen cougars.
Michigan Citizens for Cougar Recognition, a group started six years ago by local attorney and Van Buren County Commissioner Denise Noble, has catalogued nearly 200 cougar sightings in Allegan, Van Buren, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties. Add in Barry, Cass and Berrien counties, and total cougar sightings reported in Southwest Michigan jump to 412.
Allegan County had the third highest number of reported cougar sightings in the state, with 62. Van Buren County came in fifth, with 58. Kalamazoo County was seventh in the state, with 54.
Noble said Southwest Michigan’s large deer population and open tracts of land lured cougars from out west into the area.
“I think we definitely have a population here,” Noble said. “I don’t think it is that we have more cougars. I think it is that more people are willing to report and be part of the process.”
Reported sightings in the area date back to the 1800s, but the bulk of them have been since 2000. In Kalamazoo County, according to Noble’s data, cougars have been spotted crossing U.S. 131, in rural areas near Gull Lake and Climax, and in the city, at the intersection of Douglas and Mosel avenues and near Wheaton Avenue and Oakland Drive.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
"Are there cougars in the Southwest Michigan? DNR says it has yet to see proof, but hundreds of people report sightings"
This is going to be a good thread.....
This is gonna be a goooood thread..PS..don’t forget the pics...
Great minds do think alike...LOL
I’m just here for the pics.
TTIWWOP
I know of at least 10 in my social circle. Need a date?
Not Guilty!!!!!!
I know someone very trustworthy, who, with his wife, said he saw one here in Alabama. Game wardens will scoff at that, but I tend to believe this person.
I found one big ass paw print this fall. (Jackson county) I don’t know cougar tracks but it sure looked like one big kitty track.
When I read the title I thought it was an article about hot chicks in their 40s & 50s. Oh well I guess I been so bummed about last nights gvt takeover that I’m not thinking straight.
I’m sure there are. There are lots of single women looking for some young buck and young guys looking for a good time with someone with more money. And if the cougar is old enough, there’s no chance of pregnancy.
Oh - I’m slow on the uptake -=- not enough coffee yet... :-D
HA HA HA, Rin. That was hilarious!!
As long as they don’t bother my family and our relatives this July in Grand Haven at the beach I’m ok with them trolling the fields inland for some food....
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