|
|
|
Cougars (sometimes referred to as “mountain lions” or “puma”) have been spotted in Minnesota numerous times in the past, but there are only about a dozen DNR confirmed sightings of the animal thus far.
Recent reports of cougar sightings have been made in the Minnesota River Valley area around rural Echo and Wood Lake areas, to areas around Sacred Heart and rural Granite Falls in the river bottom areas.
No images of the cougars have been caught on film, and no paw prints on the ground have been confirmed at this point.
The Upper Sioux Agency State Park has received calls with reports of cougar sightings in the area in recent years, but they have not been able to confirm a presence of the often elusive cougar either.
“What they need to do to be confirmed is to have a photo or a postitive identification of a track, expert confirmation,” says Terri Dinesen of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park.
Dinesen also noted that if a cougar is seen, it cannot be shot.
“They are not legal to take. The only way you could take it is if you can prove it is threatening your life,” she says.
Some of the prints she has investigated, she suspects to be dog prints, as cat tracks are rounder than canine, which are more oval.
She has found no other evidence strong enough to suggest a cougar presence in the area.
“I believe they have been seeing something out there,” Dinesen says of the number of reported sightings along the river valley.
Bob Meyer of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) office in Marshall has investigated reported sightings in the area as well.
“We’ve had sporadic reports, but they’re all unconfirmed. There have been a few instances of cougars showing up in the past years, but it’s been an instance of someone’s pet,” Meyer said.
“The nearest real indigenous cougar population is in the Black Hills of South Dakota,” he adds.
Then that leaves the unanswered questions: Are people seeing cougars here? Are they seeing something else? Are cougars moving into our area?
And for some, they question whether the DNR’s hesitation at confirming cougar sightings could have to do with rumors that the DNR themselves are releasing the cougars in an effort to control the coyote population.
“We are not releasing cougars,” says Dinesen. “We’re too populated to be doing something like that.”
Lorraine Tebben, of Granite Falls, has a relative in rural Granite Falls who reported one of the sightings.
“He saw lots of tracks, but they’ve only seen it once. It was daylight, like right around noon or afternoon,” she said.
Ed Picht is a local conservationist who has investigated reports of sightings in the Montevideo, Granite Falls area. He investigated one report about three weeks ago in the Sacred Heart area on the river bottom.
“On all the reports I’ve investigated, I haven’t been able to confirm or deny any,” Picht said.
Researching the topic, studies show that while they’re not here now, cougars were here once. When the area was settled, the cats were hunted or killed because of their threat to humans and livestock.
L. David Mech, a Wolf Biologist says, “They lived here once. They could do so again.”
All they need is a supply of food and to be able to find each other for breeding purposes.
Cougars (sometimes referred to as “mountain lions” or “puma”) have been spotted in Minnesota numerous times in the past, but there are only about a dozen DNR confirmed sightings of the animal thus far.
Recent reports of cougar sightings have been made in the Minnesota River Valley area around rural Echo and Wood Lake areas, to areas around Sacred Heart and rural Granite Falls in the river bottom areas.
No images of the cougars have been caught on film, and no paw prints on the ground have been confirmed at this point.
The Upper Sioux Agency State Park has received calls with reports of cougar sightings in the area in recent years, but they have not been able to confirm a presence of the often elusive cougar either.
“What they need to do to be confirmed is to have a photo or a postitive identification of a track, expert confirmation,” says Terri Dinesen of the Upper Sioux Agency State Park.
Dinesen also noted that if a cougar is seen, it cannot be shot.
“They are not legal to take. The only way you could take it is if you can prove it is threatening your life,” she says.
Some of the prints she has investigated, she suspects to be dog prints, as cat tracks are rounder than canine, which are more oval.
She has found no other evidence strong enough to suggest a cougar presence in the area.
“I believe they have been seeing something out there,” Dinesen says of the number of reported sightings along the river valley.
Bob Meyer of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) office in Marshall has investigated reported sightings in the area as well.
“We’ve had sporadic reports, but they’re all unconfirmed. There have been a few instances of cougars showing up in the past years, but it’s been an instance of someone’s pet,” Meyer said.
“The nearest real indigenous cougar population is in the Black Hills of South Dakota,” he adds.
Then that leaves the unanswered questions: Are people seeing cougars here? Are they seeing something else? Are cougars moving into our area?
And for some, they question whether the DNR’s hesitation at confirming cougar sightings could have to do with rumors that the DNR themselves are releasing the cougars in an effort to control the coyote population.
“We are not releasing cougars,” says Dinesen. “We’re too populated to be doing something like that.”
Lorraine Tebben, of Granite Falls, has a relative in rural Granite Falls who reported one of the sightings.
“He saw lots of tracks, but they’ve only seen it once. It was daylight, like right around noon or afternoon,” she said.
Ed Picht is a local conservationist who has investigated reports of sightings in the Montevideo, Granite Falls area. He investigated one report about three weeks ago in the Sacred Heart area on the river bottom.
“On all the reports I’ve investigated, I haven’t been able to confirm or deny any,” Picht said.
Researching the topic, studies show that while they’re not here now, cougars were here once. When the area was settled, the cats were hunted or killed because of their threat to humans and livestock.
L. David Mech, a Wolf Biologist says, “They lived here once. They could do so again.”
All they need is a supply of food and to be able to find each other for breeding purposes.
A history of
sightings in Minn.
The DNR investigates an approximate 50 reports of cougar sightings each year, but there have been just a half dozen sightings they have confirmed over the past 30 years. Of those, was the most recent case when a car in Bemidji hit and killed a 110 pound, sub-adult male cougar of approximately 2 to 21/2 years of age near Bemidji at the end of September.
In January of 2005, a radio collared cougar passed through the Roseau River Wildlife Management Area in Northern Minnesota, then proceeded into Canada.
In August of 2007 near Floodwood, a property owner caught an image of a cougar with a trail camera.
In 1992, a 150-lb cougar was caught in Worthington, and in 1997, a camera in a Fingerhut parking lot in Plymouth caught a cougar on film. Another confirmed sighting was in 2002 in Aitkin County.
In February of 2009, several reports of sightings of cougars roaming the woods and fields near Elk River were unable to be confirmed.
Other cats that have been spotted, captured and sometimes killed in Minnesota include one in Willmar in 2006. However, John Erb, DNR Wildlife Research Scientist believed that cougar was a domesticated cougar that escaped or was released by its owner. The DNR believes a number of sightings of cougars in Minnesota fall into that category, in fact.
Blaine Klemek, Assistant Wildlife Manager for the DNR in Bemidji says most confirmed reports, “are young males that wander east from the Badlands or the Black Hills of South Dakota.”
Could cougars
live here?
All the area needs to support a cougar population is ... well, something for them to eat. Home ranges of females may take up an entire township (36 square miles). A male may cover 10 times that area at a rate of 25 miles/day. The 25 deer typical of a single square mile would feed a cougar for a year. So in theory, this area could support a cougar population.
Cougar facts
•Cougars look like a tan house cat, but are larger than a dog.
•Adult cougars weigh 100 to 200 pounds.
•Cougars eat medium and large sized prey from rabbits to deer. Cougars can live wherever their main prey, deer, are present.
•There are no reports of cougars attacking humans in Minnesota.
