I'm sure this isn't national news, but there have been 5 confirmed cougar sightings in Wisconsin since December. The DNR is pretty sure that the
recent sighting in Brookfield as well as the others are the same cougar, a young male looking for new territory which would require a mate and food source. To their knowledge there is no breeding female here. First a fox sighting, then a wolf sighting, will a cougar sighting be next? Guess I better be alert on the trails as I travel around the state and not just assume I am seeing dog tracks - and maybe start carrying my hiking stick just in case! Seriously though, the risk is small to a grown adult, only 13 people have been killed in the last 100 years in all of North America.
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hiking last week near on IAT in Monches, about 20 miles
from most recent cougar sighting - all I saw was deer tracks |
If you click on
this Wisconsin DNR link and then click on the sightings tab you can get access to a list of the confirmed sightings accompanied by photos. I'm not going to be hiking in Wisconsin for the next week and a half because by the end of the week I will be hiking in the Seattle area!!
Sorry the title made me smile. Must be odd seeing animals like that in the wild near you, people around here get in a panic when a wolf get loose from a sanctuary they think it's going to run around killing everyone. Biggest thing we see is a Fox
ReplyDeleteI love this. The Eastern Cougar was just recently declared extinct despite people I know in the mountains of Virginia who are certain they have seen one. It makes me so sad. What is wrong with us as a species I ask myself and now I read that Wisconsin may still have cougars. I'm thrilled. Can't thank you enough for brightening my day. Hiking near Seattle, boy you definitely get around.
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