Are there cougars in the Southwest Michigan?

Kalamazoo Gazette ^ | 12/21/09

[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.

[ConservativeMan55]

[Dixie Yooper]

DNR says it has yet to see proof

Never wait for the Michigan DNR to confirm something they don't want to admit. And if you were thinking of shooting cougars that are a danger to you, your family or livestock, the DNR will arrest you for killing an endangered animal.

[Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo]

[mountn man]

Wow Kathy Lee, I never realized you...

Must be cold

[Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo]

[CrazyIvan]

There was one shot here in Northwest Il. a couple of years
ago. I thought I had seen one in South central Io. in ‘93
and couldn't believe it myself. Later I asked an Io. DNR
officer about it and he said that I wasn't the only one,
that that area was part of a woodsy corridor that had a lot
of formerly more Northerly animals in it.

I actually heard once (PBS I think) that cougars, elk, and
other animals were moving South because of global warming.
SOUTH!?

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL

[mountn man]

Hate her politics, but I love her...

[cripplecreek]

When I asked one of our local DNR guys about cougars around here he said they don’t officialy exist but did warn me that they tend to attack from behind.

[earlJam]

Gotta watch out for those cougars.

They could poke your eye out.

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL at least I’d go out smiling.

[Himyar]

One of the telephone company repair men saw one about a mile further down the dirt road I live on. Scared him to death. I’m in central Alabama. I know every so often my dogs go nuts at night and I can hear the horses snorting and blowing. It’s not the coyotes, they just stomp them.

[70th Division]

Ya, I had a date with one. LOL Sorry!

[Dixie Yooper]

Cougars have been active in the UP for the last 20 years. Just recently, the DNR caved in and admitted they are there. The ba$tards probably reintroduced them about the same time they let all the timber wolves loose. The forests of Upper Michigan used to be safe.

[70th Division]

The DNR is so pathetically stupid that they could not find their a$$ with both hands. They just deny anything controversial. We have had cougar tracks in Okemos, MI and they continue to deny it. They are a total state government waist.

[sodpoodle]

****The DNR is so pathetically stupid that they could not find their a$$ with both hands......They are a total state government waist.****

What a WASTE!!! LOL!!!!

[Sax]

www.marriedtothesea.com

[cripplecreek]

We’ve also had a handfull of unconfirmed black bear sightings north and east of Jackson.

[Lee'sGhost]

That’s got to be a really old foto.

Here’s a virtual smack on the back of the head., DiNozzo.

[x_plus_one]

Cougars follow the dear everywhere the dear go.