MARQUETTE, Mich. – Michigan wildlife scientists have confirmed 2025 is now the third consecutive year of record-setting cougar sightings in the state’s Upper Peninsula – and there’s more than a month of the year left to go.
That makes 2025’s cougar sightings the most in a calendar year since humans hunted the species out of existence statewide more than 100 years ago. It’s further proof that residents are more frequently spotting the top feline predators in Michigan’s wildest places.
The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed there have been 26 confirmed cougar sightings in Michigan so far this year, surpassing last year’s record by three.
“We’re excited about the increased sightings,” said Drew Monks, nonprofit Michigan Wildlife Conservancy’s director of wildlife programs.
“This is an animal that has been in Michigan in the past. It was eliminated from our environment because of human intervention, and we feel that it belongs here,” he said.
An anonymous Yooper shared this photograph with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, where scientists confirmed it is a cougar cub.Michigan Department of Natural Resources
In a unique data point, those 26 cougar sightings this year in the U.P. added up to 27 animals because a pair of cougar cubs were spotted at the same time March 6 in Ontonagon County.
In the last month, DNR officials confirmed three sightings of cougars, also sometimes called pumas or mountain lions.
Brian Roell, DNR large carnivore specialist, said those three latest confirmations were all from trail camera images. Some dated back beyond these recent weeks, but photos were subsequently found and submitted to the state for verification.
In fact, state biologists have confirmed multiple sightings of the large carnivorous cats each month this year, save for in June and August when they found scientific evidence just once.
Confirmed cougar sightings in Michigan have trended upward over the last six years, according to DNR data.
A cougar is photographed walking by a trail camera on Sept. 19, 2023, in Dickinson County, using equipment owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.Michigan DNR
The first year of double-digit cougar sightings was 2019 when 11 of the animals were spotted. In the last five years, DNR officials have at least six times confirmed different cougar sightings in two places on the same day.
Wildlife officials have for years thought cougars spotted in the U.P. were young males that had migrated into the region from expanding western populations in the Dakotas. Officials said that increasing trail camera evidence and living kittens now being found in Michigan suggest there may now be some resident animals.
Monks said these rising sightings of cougars in Michigan offer an opportunity to educate the public about the ecological value of these stealthy, nocturnal apex predators.
“They’re extremely well camouflaged in their environment and they’re really good at avoiding people. They’ve got a super strong sense of smell and hearing, and they are not interested in civilization or people at all,” he said. “But they’re really interested in eating deer.”
Cougars are large tan cats that average between 6.5 and 7.5 feet long with a long tail, about one-third of their body length. The species prefers forested or partly forested landscapes near streams or rivers and requires a healthy prey base of primarily white-tailed deer but will also consume smaller mammals.
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