MARQUETTE, MI-- The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has verified three trail camera photos of cougars in the Upper Peninsula.
Two of the photos were taken in October in Menominee County and feature a cat with a radio collar. The third was taken in Marquette County this month.
Officials say North and South Dakota are the nearest states that collar cougars to track them. In the fall of 2011 a cat wearing a radio collar was photographed in Ontonagon, Keweenaw, and Houghton counties. The DNR doesn’t know if the cougar recently seen in Menominee County is the same animal, or if another animal has made its way to the U.P. from Western states.
The DNR has now verified the presence of cougars in the Upper Peninsula 20 times since 2008.
