siteMi Cougar

[callie]

Let's talk big cats in Michigan.Nothing against the field guys at the D.N.R., but it seems to me with all the evidence that is being presented in recent months, we just might have some feral felines foraging freely in our forests.

I have never seen any evidence first hand, but have seen what the researchers out of MSU have compiled. Pretty impressive STUFF!! I have visited the site in Gould City where a lot of data was recorded but no sitings.

Anyone out there convinced these animals are in Michigan?

i have
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[lonehunter]

absolutley !

i saw one on the bay/gladwin county line on highway 61 4 years ago . it was dark and i saw two sets of eyes glowing in the headlights , i slowed to a stop just where they were and saw the big cat pick up the full grown deer and watched it cross the road in front of me . i saw it clearley .

i reported it to the gladwin dnr , a few months later another sighting in the sherman township area state lands by myself .

last year in the beaverton area of gladwin a few farm animals were recovered along with the pad prints of the cat(s). farmer tim has had several track lines in his area as well . large cats eat from the chest cavity of there prey , liver , heart and lungs all organs that have a large blood content . cyotes eat there prey from the rectal area first .

our county dnr have been tracking these cats for a few years unofficially .

officially there stand on them is that the cougars are abandoned pets not wild animals .

two years ago the name "cougers" was placed in our hunting manuals , it was not listed in previous years . it lists them as a protected species .

black panthers have been photographed and video taped in the monroe farmlands and state lands .

yes , we have the big cats . i'm pretty sure i saw a news story a few months ago from the grand traverse bay area where tracks were found . my sister spotted some prints at sleaping bear dunes .
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[callie]

Lonehunter: Ok so why then are our DNR gurus so hesitant to say let's find out if there really here? Money obviously is a concern, but hey, if I knew I had the chance to make an important discovery, I would be plunging headlong into its availability.

I've heard the arguments that the only cats sighted were those that escaped from private owners. HOW MANY PRIVATE OWNERS CAN THERE BE IN THE UP AND THE LOWER?

It is truly befuddling! I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks!
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[lonehunter]

my take on the situation is the adverse effect it would have on the tourist industry .

campers ,hikers , well just about every outdoor activity would suffer a decline in attendance if there were a creature or two running around hunting city people .

pretty crappy when the almighty buck is put ahead of public saftey . personally , i feel one life is not an acceptible loss when the ability to forwarn everyone is within there meens .

one other note: i told the dnr of my sightings , but they would not , (outright refused to )make a report about it .

i guess they feel "no documented prior knowledge " of the animals existance would keep them clear of any future lawsuits when someone looses a child to the cats .
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[davetclown]

agreed, dispite dnr reports we have confirmed filmed pictures of not only the black panther of wixom we also have cugars in peoples back yards even a wolverine in the thumb of michigan.

these animals have hidden in the woods well untill now, that is because now almost every buildable site in the detroit areas is being build apon or is in the land speculation prossess for developers.

this is forcing these animals out in to the open where they are becoming visable to residents of the area.

I live in the city limits and we have deer in my back yard not to mention cyote posum skunk hawks of various types including owls.

every day they are being forced out of their homes to often die of starvation from lack of habitat.
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