Upper Midwest

The Upper Midwest region (the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan and the province of Ontario in Canada) has exhibited a substantial amount of cougar activity in recent years (see interactive map below) . The northern and eastern parts of Ontario have been cut off the map since there was no documented activity from those areas.

To get detailed information for a particular incident, click on the respective dot.  Numbers within a dot indicate multiple incidents in that location.  A summary of the evidence from each state/province can be found below the map.

Confirmation Map

Confirmation Map

 Minnesota is adjacent to South Dakota with a documented population expanding in the Black Hills. It is also adjacent to North Dakota, which has also had a large number of confirmations in recent years, likely also transients expanding eastward from Montana, Wyoming and the Black Hills population. Additionally, Minnesota has substantial forest cover that is favored habitat for cougar. Not surprisingly, The Cougar Network has documented a significant number of confirmations in Minnesota. 

Ontario, the Canadian province just north of the upper Midwest states, has had one Class II confirmation in the southwest corner of the province.

Wisconsin has had a number of sightings, but no confirmations. The Wisconsin DNR believes there may be occasional transients in the state.

In January 2005, the Michigan DNR announced that hair samples retrieved from a car bumper the previous November came from a cougar. The hairs were retrieved by a state trooper after a motorist reported hitting "a large cat". 

The incident occurred in southern Menominee County, not far from the Wisconsin border.  The samples were forwarded to a lab at Central Michigan University for analysis, which confirmed them as "cougar" (genotype unknown). 

"This is exactly the kind of information we are looking for to gain a better understanding of what animals are present in Michigan and identify potential areas for additional work," said DNR Natural Heritage Unit Supervisor Ray Rustem. "Though the information indicates the presence of a cougar, it still does not confirm the presence of a breeding population in Michigan."

Conclusions

The Upper Midwest region is the most favorable corridor for cougars repopulating the east. It has a sparse population, heavy forest cover, and a high prey population in the form of deer, wild turkey, beaver, and even moose (there are reports of cougar taking moose fawns). Whitetail deer numbers in the region are at historic highs and they occur in areas where they were historically absent prior to the early 1900s. It is interesting to note that wolves, another top predator, were never extirpated from the region indicating a historic supply of prey and a habitat that was suitable. Additionally, there is no huge river barrier such as the Mississippi, which is present further south, to inhibit migration. There is a possible analogy to the origin of the eastern coyote (at least to the northeast). Although it is not known definitively, it is hypothesized that the origin of the much larger eastern coyote in the northeastern states was through Canada (Ontario and Quebec) where it hybridized with wolves and then migrated into upstate New York and New England. It is possible that the cougar is following a similar path to the northeastern United States.