MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF COUGARS
IN MICHIGAN

Pre-Settlement - Cougars were indigenous to all 83 counties of Michigan.

1830 - 1930 - Cougars and other predators were hunted and trapped by the government and citizens to accommodate the expanding human population.

1907 - The Sault St. Marie Evening News reports on a five-foot six-inch, 80 pound male cougar killed in a wolf trap near the Tahquamenon River in Chippewa County.

1914 - 1922 - N.A. Wood of the University of Michigan Museum summarizes historical accounts of cougars in both the Upper and Lower Peninsula. The Michigan Conservation Department begins to list cougars among predators vanished from the state.

1946 - 1950 - Based on cougar sighting reports since the 1930s, naturalists and reporters begin to question whether cougars are actually gone from Michigan. In his 1948 scientific paper on the wildlife of the Huron Mountains in the Upper Peninsula, R.H. Manville reports several sightings of cougars by "reliable people."

1950 - 1960 - Outdoor writers such as Frank Mainville continue to question whether the periodic cougar sightings in Northern Michigan might be authentic. Many articles about sightings of the "mystery cat" appear, especially around Sault Ste. Marie and a few other areas of the Upper Peninsula. Michigan Department of Conservation biologists quoted in newspaper articles claim the cougar is extirpated.

1966 - Francis Opolka, then a conservation officer who later became Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and another officer observe a cougar near Cornell in Delta County while on patrol. A plaster cast of the animal's track is made the next day and later verified as that of "a large cat" by University of Michigan zoologists.

1970 - A few citizens, such as Ed Klima of Crystal Falls, begin to record some of the more credible cougar sightings of Upper Peninsula residents.

1977 - David LaPointe, then Assist. Manager of the Porcupine Mountains State Park and a wildlife biologist, writes an account of cougar tracks he found in the Park in "Michigan Natural Resources Magazine," official publication of the MDNR.

1981 - MDNR Forester Mike Zuidema, after seeing a cougar in the wild in Michigan, begins compiling detailed records of cougar sightings, primarily in the Central Upper Peninsula.

1984 - Blood-covered bone fragments are recovered from a cougar reportedly shot in Menominee County. Zuidema forwards the sample to Colorado State University where it is determined by high-resolution electrophoresis to have "a positive identity to mountain lion."

1985 - 1990 - Various outdoor reporters continue to revisit the question of whether there are wild cougars in Michigan. Most MDNR wildlife biologists quoted in articles deny the existence of the cougars. This is a time of controversy.

1987 - The cougar is listed as an endangered species in Michigan by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

1994 - The status of the cougar in Michigan is reviewed in a book edited by Dr. David C. Evers, "Endangered and Threatened Wildlife of Michigan." The publication is the result of a long-term project funded by the Nongame Wildlife Fund of the Natural Heritage Program of the MDNR and was reviewed by no fewer than six active and retired MDNR wildlife officials and many other prominent mammalogists. Its highlights include these statements about cougars: "Today, several areas throughout its former range, including northern Michigan, may support small populations of cougars… There are also encouraging signs that the Michigan cougar is not transient but occurs in a self-sustaining population - based on several reliable sightings of adult cougars with kittens… The existence of the cougar in Michigan has only been recently confirmed. Whether individuals are from small, remnant populations that survived human pressures through the last two centuries, transients from the western Great Lakes Region, or privately released (or escaped) western subspecies, the cougar needs to be recognized, protected, and studied in Michigan's Upper Peninsula."

1995 - Individual MDNR biologists continue to receive information about cougars. Hair from a reported cougar collision with a car in Dickinson County is found to match that of cougar. However, the biologist who performed the microscopic examination files no report because he assumes the animal must be an escaped or released pet, then discards the hair.

1997 - The Detroit Free Press publishes a very clear photograph of a cougar in Alcona County taken by Jim Deutsch on the property of Larry Lippert. MDNR personnel discredit the photo and the photographer.

1998 - The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy (MWC) starts to investigate the many sightings and physical evidence of cougars in the Upper Peninsula at the behest of Dan Robbins, a co-founder of the organization.

1998 - Longtime wildlife biologist Lawrence Robinson emails his supervisors in the Lansing Headquarters to report his cougar sighting in Alcona County. His report started, "This is a note I absolutely dread writing. I don't know if Glen talked to you yet, but I had the terrible misfortune of seeing the Alcona County cougar… I figured I had to fess up eventually. What do I do to get the pictures and info to our division files without this getting out to the media?" Robinson ended by saying, " By the way, the location is about 10 miles "as the cougar flies" from the Lippert property where the picture was taken last summer."

1998 - Photographs of a cougar taken by James McCarthy in Schoolcraft County near Seul Choix Point receive widespread coverage from television and print media.

2001 - The MWC publishes a technical report summarizing cougar sightings, physical evidence, and related information. It concludes Michigan has a small, and likely remnant, population of cougars.

2001 - 2002 - The MWC begins to release information from field studies launched in May of 2001. The Conservancy's field crew finds physical evidence, including tracks, cougar-killed deer, and droppings (verified as cougar by DNA analysis) at multiple sites in both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. Two cougars are actually seen in Roscommon and Benzie Counties during the fieldwork. A cougar skull is found by a citizen in Chippewa County. The Conservancy's research is featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles. Most MDNR biologists quoted by the media continue to deny cougars are found in Michigan or state that any cougars actually detected must be escaped or released pets.

2002 - MDNR biologists determine that livestock were attacked by a large cat, probably a cougar, at two properties in Kalkaska County. Permits are issued to four landowners authorizing them to kill or trap a large, feral cat. Television and newspaper articles document the incidents and question the appropriateness of the agency's actions.

2003 - In response to public requests the MWC publishes a 54-page Field Guide to Detecting Cougars in the Great Lakes Region. The Conservancy, having received many requests from local police agencies, publishes a brochure entitled "Living With Cougars In Michigan." The Conservancy provides training on cougars for the statewide membership of the Michigan Association of Animal Control Officers.

November 2003 - The National Park Service (NPS) posts warning signs at all of its trailheads in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Titled "You are A Visitor In Cougar Habitat," the sign emphasizes some important do's and don'ts if one encounters a cougar. The NPS takes this action in response to a long history of sightings by its own staff and citizens, research in the Lakeshore by the MWC, and a close-encounter with a cougar by one of the Lakeshore's volunteers.

2003/04 - Traverse City Record Eagle and Bay City Times become first newspapers to take editorial positions calling for the MDNR to acknowledge the wild cougar population and research the predator so that Michigan citizens know how to be safe in the outdoors.

January 2005 - MWC releases videotape from Monroe County confirming (with absolute proof) two cougars, 5 ˝ and 6 ˝ feet long. Taken on April 24, 2004 by Carol Stokes, the video provides evidence suggestive of breeding by cougars. Two professional video analysts conduct split-screen size comparisons and field tests to confirm the size of the two cats.

February 2005 - The MDNR releases DNA evidence that a motorist hit a cougar in southern Menominee County. Hair taken from the car bumper by a State Trooper tests positive for cougar. The location is just 7 miles from a cougar scat picked up in 2002, and 11 miles from where blood covered bone fragments from a cougar were recovered in 1984. The MDNR states the DNA confirms just one animal, not a population, and that it was probably an escaped or released pet.