Michigan is also cougar country

Reprinted and posted with permission from the Observer Eccentric Hometown Newspapers

Sunday, January 30, 2005

By Jonathan Schechter

Nature is restless. She survives and thrives in spite of human attempts at domination. And she is full of surprises. Some surprises are of claw and fang.

Wolves have just returned to the northern reaches of the Lower Peninsula the old-fashioned way: They walked here. And last year, a lone wolverine made headlines by appearing up in the "thumb." Even our DNR, a bit shy on publicly acknowledging great predators in our midst, especially ones they say do not live here, did not deny that moment of wildness. They saw it. They filmed it. They acknowledged. And they backed away from the usual sweep it under the rug theory: Another escaped pet. No pet wolverines.

But some DNR bureaucrats - not all - still publicly hold firm to "just an escaped pet" when it comes to cougars (mountain lions). And some keep mum. It would be ludicrous to think that whether we have 10 cougars or 80 cougars they are all escaped pets. I'll make a prediction: Give it six months and the Michigan DNR, with director Rebecca Humphries at the helm - will without much fanfare - take a deep breath and finally confirm what new scientific evidence and historic records seem to indicate. There is a small, albeit inbred population of mountain lions living in Michigan. They have in all likelihood been here all along. And just perhaps, one or two of the cryptic cats have in the very recent past tiptoed through Oakland County as they wander in search of genetic diversity, nature's way.

Those who deny the possibility of any cougars - wild cougars - would do well to remember a fact of life in nature's way. Predators follow prey. And there is too much evidence and now a credibly verified video - the Monroe video - to deny cougars are in Michigan. That video shows two cats at the edge of a Monroe woodlot. Split screen analysis shows they are 5 ½ and 6 ½ feet long. Mighty big kitties for house cats.

The presence of cougars anywhere is exciting. Travel to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - that's lower Michigan folks - and every trailhead will greet you with a sign that begins: "You are a visitor in cougar habitat." Feds say Yes! State says No!

Cougars in modern America should not be feared, nor taken lightly. The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy (www.miwildlife.org) has information on cougars (much still denied by the Michigan DNR) and suggestions for coexistence. And pick up The Beast in The Garden by David Baron and you won't put it down till the last page. An excellent, at time graphic read on cougars.

Cougars can kill. So does alcohol-enhanced snowmobiling and driving with a cell phone glued to your head. And eating those new "Super-size My Posterior While Plugging My Coronary Arteries Burgers" is far more risky to you health than the resurgence of cougars.

Let me state I have not with my own eyes seen a shred of direct evidence of cougars. I do not believe that cougars are living in Oakland County as permanent residents. But the pendulum of solid evidence is swinging towards cougars being a present day, breeding part of our state's wild heritage. We have cougars in Michigan. That is the fact on the ground.

Last week I had the privilege to meet with Michigan Wildlife Conservancy Executive Director Dennis Fijalkowski after he spoke on cougars in Oakland Township Hall. Uniformed DNR personal attended. And smiled. And shook his hand. I left convinced that cougars in Michigan should not be bedded with Bigfoots. Michigan is cougar country - like it or not.

Jonathan Schechter writes on nature's way. He is in northern Michigan today snowshoeing Tahquamenon Falls, land of the wolf, bear; and cougar.

Oaknature@aol.com