Cougar sightings are nearing last year’s number, at 20 sightings so far this year, with 21 reported in 2024.

The increased sightings may be due to more video cameras on trails and possibly more cougars moving in to the state, authorities said.

Just because cougar sightings are climbing doesn’t mean there are more cougars in the state, according to Brian Roell, the Department of Natural Resource’s large carnivore specialist.

In 2024, the Department of Natural Resources reported 21 cougar sightings. So far this year, 20 sightings have occurred.

“We’re not talking about a population of cougars. They’re just transient animals coming into the Upper Peninsula,” Roell said. He added that a few more cougars may have come from North or South Dakota and Nebraska, with a healthy growing population of cougars in Nebraska that may be moving east.

The sightings, which likely are of male cats as well as a couple of cubs in the Upper Peninsula, are likely videos or photographs from hunters and wildlife enthusiasts of the same cat multiple times traveling the same trail.

“Young male mountain lions are hard wired to move, so more than likely that’s what they are, but we don’t have any proof to that,” he said.

The two cubs spotted on March 6 in the Upper Peninsula have not been pictured since, so the DNR is unsure of their fate.

Since 2021, the number of sightings has been rising. In 2021, there were eight; in 2022, there were 10; in 2023, there were 17; in 2024, 21.

Roell said the number of cougars is likely in the single digits, but the department is uncertain of the exact number.

“There’s more cameras out there and maybe a few more cougars are filtering into Michigan. It’s not like we can say there’s a lot more cougars in the state than previous years we’re still talking a very small population, because we’re seeing the same cats over and over,” he said.

According to the DNR’s website, cougars are native to Michigan but they were wiped out around the early 1900s. The last known wild cougar legally taken in the state occurred in 1906 near Newberry.

Sightings can be uploaded at Eyes in the Field.

mjohnson@detroitnews.com

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