Michigan DNR arrests two suspects for killing cougar on the Upper Peninsula IP: 184.13.224.56 Posted on December 21, 2013 at 11:28:05 AM by Grasshopper
For the last several years cougars have occasionally been showing up in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Almost all are young males. Some seem to have tarried in various locations, but then they disappear. I have long suspected that the "shoot, shovel and shut up" principle was being applied. The Lower Peninsula of Michigan is within the presumed range of the "eastern cougar" subspecies. DNA work by Melanie Culver demonstrated that there never was a distinct eastern cougar subspecies--that all North American cougars belong to one subspecies, Puma concolor couguar. Nonetheless, in 2011 the US Fish & Wildlife Service declared that the "eastern cougar" was extinct. They probably did this so that states in the presumed range of the eastern cougar could decide not to protect any wild cougars within their borders--they all would have to be former captives or their descendants, or dispersers from western locales. It's to the credit of the Michigan DNR that they immediately declared all wild cougars in their borders as endangered, without being concerned about their origin. No doubt the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy deserves credit for their continued campaign for protection for cougars in the state. Replies: