Mountain Lion

Mountain Lions in the Upper Peninsula have been reported many times however the DNR has yet to acknowledge that they exist is breeding numbers. In 2005 a Mountain Lion was reportedly hit by an automobile in Menominee County and a hair sample did confirm that it was indeed from a Mountain Lion.

Recent sighting could be of animals that escaped from Zoo’s or were home raised. But the DNR relates that if there were a breeding population then there would be more hit by automobiles at least at a rate close to states that have a resident population of them.

Never-the-less, the terrain and food supply does exist to support Mountain Lions and they were once native to this region so we believe there are probably some around but in very small numbers. They also are very secretive and it is possible that a small breeding population could sustain itself without ever being seen by humans.

Animals tagged in Montana have been caught in southern New Mexico so to migrate east about the same distance would place them in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.