Minnesota lion sightings?

[Emily]

http://www.reviewmessenger.com/index.ph ... hool-board

Residents report cougar sightings PDF | Print | E-mail
WRITTEN BY MATTHEW JOHNSON


This photo of a cougar dragging an 8-pt. buck has been flying over the emails this week, purported to have been taken "north of Park Rapids." The truth is that this photo was taken off the DNR's Web site of a cougar caught on a trail camera on a ranch in southern Texas.

When it comes to cougars (also known as mountain lions or pumas) in this area, one thing is certain: people continue to report sightings of the wild animals. You’ll just have to take their word for it.

Officials with the Min nesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) say the vast majority of the reported sightings do not meet their burden of proof. John Erb, research biologist for the DNR's Division of Fish & Wildlife, said whether or not the sightings are legitimate, the bottom line is that most of the claims have gone unsubstantiated. He said only a handful of wild cougar sightings have been confirmed in Minnesota in the last 50 years (discounting those which turned out to be domesticated cougars).

Wadena County DNR Conservation Officer Greg Oldakowski told the Review Messenger Tuesday, Decem ber 1, that people tend to come up with the "craziest stuff." He has heard stories about the DNR bringing wild mountain lions that had killed women and children in California to Minnesota. "No," said Oldakowski, when asked if that claim was true. "I know I sure didn't!"

But the big cats are here; that is the claim of several property owners west of Menahga, including Schill ing brothers Frank, Sandy and Mike, and their neighbor Delbert Warmbold.

Officer Oldakowski does not refute their claims, but said he has found no evidence to substantiate them, either.

Frank Schilling said he never believed stories he heard about cougars in this area until he saw them with his own eyes. It wasn't until he saw two of them chasing a deer in his front yard that he became "a believer."

Another time Frank said he was looking out the window of a Schilling family farm home when he happened to see two mountain lions tear a rabbit in half. He said the rabbit was eating birdseed that had fallen from a bird feeder about 10 feet away from the house. The cougars appeared suddenly and wasted no time ripping the rabbit in two, Frank said. He said he hopes if the big cats get hungry they do not start attacking people; he's especially concerned for the safety of children on farms and rural homes.

Certainly, there have been no reports of cougars attacking people in the area, and no officially confirmed sightings, according to Erb and Oldakowski. And both DNR officials said they cannot understand why people would knowingly spread misinformation about cougars that have been photographed by trail cameras.

A photo of an 8-point whitetail buck being dragged by a cougar was recently sent to the Review Messenger. The person who sent the photo claimed it was taken by a trail camera north of Park Rapids. That person was likely misinformed, however, from another source. Erb said he has seen that photo a million times. You can see that same photo at the Web site www.buckmanager.com. It seems a rancher in southern Texas realized back in February 2009 that his trail cam had captured footage of a mountain lion stalking, capturing and dragging away the buck near a deer feeding station. Somewhere along the cyber grapevine, someone made the false claim that the footage was taken in the Park Rapids area and, as a result, many folks have already been duped by the claim.

Nonetheless, many area residents are emphatic that cougars are active participants our North Central Minnesota ecosystem, and they are sticking to their stories about seeing them.

Frank's brother, Sandy Schilling, reported seeing a family of cougars near his property on Monday, Novem ber 9. Someone had left the remains of a deer carcass – almost everything except the hind quarters – in the ditch close to Sandy's home. At about 7 p.m., Sandy said he sent his dog out to clean up on some venison leftovers, but about half way between him and the carcass, the dog turned tail and came back, whining.

Sandy put his headlamp on and walked in the direction of the remains. When he reached the road, he didn't see anything, at least not at first. "At first I didn't realize they (cougars) were there," he said.

Then, on the edge of the ditch where Sandy shined his headlamp, he spied what he described as a cougar family of four: two large cats and two smaller ones he believed to be cubs, not yet fully grown. He figured the larger of the two adults was likely the male. "That thing was huge," said Sandy. He estimated about 6 to 8 inches separated its eyes.

Sandy said he was surprised to see a cougar family so close to his home at that time of night. After he shined his headlamp in the wild cats' direction, one of them let out what he described as a loud, screeching noise … an "ungodly sound."

Sandy said he was not nervous, but wanted to get a closer look, so he stepped even closer toward the ditch where the animals stood. "I was on the road," he said. "I scared them off."

The cats apparently came back later that night and dragged what was left of the carcass off into the woods, said Sandy.

Delbert Warmbold, who lives about a mile south of the Schilling residences along Highway 87 west of Menahga, said he saw a cougar at his place in late August. He happened to notice that his horse was just "shaking like a leaf." When he entered the Shetland's pen to check things out, the animal "put his head underneath my arm. He was looking down there."

Delbert realized his Shetland was anxious about something coming from the direction of his walking trails in the woods. He focused his gaze in that direction and observed a cougar with its long, curled tail, "walking straight west, with his head down."

It's the only time he's seen one, but he's sure it was a cougar. "There are definitely cougars here," said Warmbold.

Erb admits that the mountain lion population in the United States as a whole is increasing, and that the DNR has been receiving numerous reports of sightings across Minnesota, albeit unsubstantiated.

Both Erb and Oldakowski encourage people to call the DNR if they know they have evidence of a mountain lion on their property. People can also call local law enforcement if they know they or their livestock are being threatened by any wild animals.

Conservation Officer Oldakowski said there is no sea son on mountain lions in Minnesota, but he is unaware of any legal repercussions for shooting one. "A private citizen could shoot a cougar if they are protecting their property or themselves," Erb said.

If any property owners in Wadena County have evidence of mountain lions on their property, they can call Officer Oldakowski or, for those in the northern part of the county or in southern Hubbard County, they can call the DNR Park Rapids Area Wildlife Office.

Oldakowski said he has received about half a dozen claims in the past year from different parts of the county that he believes may be true accounts, even though no solid evidence could be produced. The last one came in about two months ago from near Wadena, he said. He said he has never seen a mountain lion himself, and although folks have told him about trail cam pictures of mountain lions taken in this area, he has yet to see any of this so-called evidence, either.

A good example of evidence would be paw prints in the snow. If a property owner believes they are looking at the paw prints from a cougar, they can cover it with something like a coffee can or a vehicle to keep it from being disturbed, and then contact officials to have it verified.

Oldakowski said another problem with some of the claims is that sometimes people are not aware of what they're really looking at. He said he knows some people see a large yellow lab and mistake it for a mountain lion, and the same is true with big house cats or bobcats. "I think there's a lot of misidentification," he said.

Ironically, people are more likely to be attacked by dogs than by mountain lions, and the statistics bear that out, Erb said.

Erb said the 114-pound male cougar struck and killed by a car near Bemidji back in September is being tested at a DNR lab to determine where it came from, among other things. He said it's very likely the animal was passing through Minne sota from somewhere else with a known cougar population, such as the Black Hills of South Dakota. As far as any established populations in this state, Erb said it's likely to be zero at any point in time, as any big cats here are likely on the move from some other state. Mountain lion populations are typically established in western states such as California.

[Nolte]

Most people in WI and MN are complete idiots when it comes to Mt. Lions. In fact I would venture to say that nearly 90% of people can't correctly identifiy the tracks of common animals in the area. One guy was adimant that he had multiple lions on his farm in Central MN, he even had the video to prove it. They were gray fox.

Are there Lions in WI and MN, sure they have been confirmed a couple times in both states in the last few years. But if something killed an animal or was eating on a carcass, Lions would be waaaay down on the list of what it could be. Maybe just a knotch or two above space aliens.

[Twopipe]

Nolte is absolutley correct about people not being able to ID tracks or even the animal. When most people think of a bobcat they think of an animal the size of a housecat and when they see a 25-40 lbs bobcat they think that thing is huge...it must be a cougar!

I have yet to see sign of a lion here in MN but I'm always looking. This might be the year!

[Doogie]

Supposedly there's one that frequents the Climax golf course, now that would really be hunting the golf course lol wonder if they would let me borrow a golf cart too lol