Cougars can be found in Midwest

The Daily Herald's story by Chuck Goudie covering the shooting of a wild cougar in Chicago has heightened awareness that large, rare wildlife can show up almost anywhere.

But state officials quoted in other articles have misled the public by speculating that the cougar was a wanderer from South Dakota (900 miles away).

Agency wildlife biologists steadfastly refuse to acknowledge what many citizens have known for more than half a century -- the Midwest has long had populations of cougars! Tens of thousands of people have reported seeing cougars throughout the region.

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy has conducted extensive research -- published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal -- that documents cougars in Michigan, and researchers have also found evidence of cougars in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

So, the "Chicago cougar" more likely came from Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, rather than South Dakota. Why should anyone care?

Agency biologists won't admit that cougars are around because they don't want management responsibility. They are trying to hoodwink the public, convincing them that any cougars in the Midwest must be wanderers from South Dakota and do not represent a wild, breeding population in the Great Lakes.

Citizens have a right to know the truth about the wildlife with which they share the land.

Cougars should not be thought of as out-of-place in the Midwest or as a wandering public menace.

For more information about the controversy over cougars in the Midwest see the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy Web site at www.miwildlife.org. We thank Chuck Goudie for sharing the truth about cougars in the Great Lakes area.

Dennis Fijalkowski

Executive Director, Michigan Wildlife Conservancy

Bath, Mich.