DNA analysis confirmed that the cat was from South Dakota, a distance of some 1,500 miles! With the sightings so widespread, it seems that there is an amazing increase in the cougar population. In addition to Chicago’s bizarre cougar shooting, there also was an incident in 2010 in which a cougar was killed while crossing the highway in Connecticut. Illinois: Three confirmed sightings, with the most unusual being the 2008 shooting of a cougar in the suburbs of Chicago. Iowa: Three wild cougars have been killed since 2001, with several recent confirmed sightings the state DNR suspects the presence of transient animals passing through the state. Wisconsin: Eight confirmed sightings, with three occurring since 2011. Missouri: Twenty-one confirmed sightings, eight since 2011. Minnesota: Twelve confirmed sightings since 2009, with the assistance of the Minnesota DNR. Kansas: Five confirmed cougar sightings by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks since 2007, three within the last two years.
Consider the sightings in the following states as an indication of the increase in the cougar’s range:
The Cougar Network, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to studying habitat relationships and the role of cougars in the ecosystems, confirmed that reports of cougar sightings have steadily increased over the last few years in areas of North America where they haven’t been seen in more than a century. Over the last few years, confirmed sightings of cougars have been reported across the Midwest from Kansas City to Chicago.
Just last summer, more than 200 miles north of Minneapolis near Fergus Falls, Minnesota, a picture of a cougar was caught on a hunter’s game camera, which was later confirmed by the DNR. That cougar was sighted several times over the next few weeks in other suburbs around the Minneapolis metro area, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) confirmed that the cat caught on tape was indeed a mountain lion. In 2009, in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin, an estimated 6-foot-long cougar was caught crossing a highway by the dashboard camera of a police officer’s car.
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