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Big cat spotted in Milton
By MARCIA NELESEN ( Contact ) Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008
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WCLO's Stan Stricker reports on hunt for Cougar in Milton area
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In this photo taken from www.cougarnet.org a tracing of a jaguar print is taken. There are reports of cougar sighting in Milton. The last confirmed sighting of a cougar in Wisconsin was in 1908.
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Kevin Edwardson
MILTON — “It isn’t every day you track a cougar in Rock County,” said Milton resident Kevin Edwardson.
On Friday, Edwardson followed what he was almost certain were cougar prints into his buddy’s haymow when the tawny-colored cat jumped up from behind a mound of hay and rushed toward him.
It was awesome seeing the big cat, Edwardson said.
Randy Hookstead, the barn’s owner, had seen the tracks at about 5 a.m. that morning at 8911 Bowers Lake Road. He had to leave for a trip up north, so he called Edwardson, who lives nearby and is also a trapper, to come over and check them out. He knew nobody would believe him.
Cougars live out West, and a Department of Natural Resources biologist said one here would be rare indeed.
Edwardson had heard reports of others seeing a cougar in the area, but finally here was a paw track, captured in the snow.
They were wider than Edwardson’s hand.
“And I’m a pretty good-sized guy,” he said.
The prints came across a nearby field straight to Hookstead’s barn and up into the haymow. Edwardson figured the animal had been there before. He circled the barn and didn’t see any tracks coming out, so he headed up into the mow.
He moved toward the center of the haymow and threw a rock against the wall.
The cougar jumped up from where it had bedded down behind a mound of hay and ran to within 15 feet of Edwardson. Then, it turned broadside and jumped through an opening in the wall, dropping gracefully at least 10 feet to the ground.
It didn’t stumble or roll and sped away taking huge strides, Edwardson said.
He figures it was about 6 feet long stretched out.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Edwardson said. “I wasn’t scared. I was in awe, seeing something like that out here.”
Edwardson’s wife, Dorrie, still can’t believe her husband went up into the haymow with little more than two rocks to face a mountain lion, he said with a laugh.
But Edwardson figures the cat would rather get away from people than attack them.
It probably was thinking, ‘Somebody had to come and spoil my day,’” he said.
Doug Fendry, a biologist and wildlife supervisor with the Department of Natural Resources, said a cougar here would be rare. He analyzed the tracks but is having the identity verified by another biologist.
“We really don’t have a cougar expert in Wisconsin,” he said.
DNR staff that tracked the animal for about two miles on Friday also gathered urine and blood samples. The animal appeared to be bleeding from its paw.
Also, the DNR doesn’t know whether the cougar is truly a wild animal or one that either escaped or was released from captivity. An analysis of the DNA could be compared to the wild cougar population, Fendry said.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook from people reporting seeing (the cougar) all the way into Jefferson County,” he said.
His first report came Jan. 5, when someone reported seeing one cross Highway 26 near Highway N.
Fendry keeps a folder of reported cougar sightings but never has been able to confirm them. He figures this animal has been around since at least summer and has survived on the plentiful deer population.
Cougars generally live in the western part of the country. The closest they live and thrive is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Fendry said. But they have been confirmed in Minnesota, Iowa and western Illinois.
Once the DNR gets confirmation that the animal is a cougar, staff will decide the next step.
One option is to let it be.
People don’t have reason to fear, Fendry said. Cougars are relatively common but reports of them attacking people are rare.
He advises that people not corner the animal if they find it in an outbuilding, for instance.
The animal in the barn, “just wanted to get out of there,” he said.
Now, the tracks around the barn aren’t cougar—they’re human, Fendry said.
“Everybody in the neighborhood (checking) it out,” he added. “I suspect it’s not going to come back to that barn for quite some time.”
Wisconsin lion?
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Wisconsin lion?
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another article
http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/breaking_news/268655
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Wild cougar in Rock County?
Bill Novak — 1/22/2008 1:54 pm
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is looking into reports of a wild cougar being spotted northeast of the city of Milton in Rock County.
The last known wild North American cougar, also called a mountain lion or puma, disappeared from Wisconsin about 100 years ago, even though there have been undocumented reports of cougar sightings since then.
DNR warden Boyd Richter, warden supervisor Jeremy Plautz and wildlife supervisor Doug Fendry photographed the animal's tracks and were also able to collect blood and urine samples from the area, which will be submitted for genetic analysis to confirm if the animal is a North American cougar.
"We've been getting reports of cougar observations in northeast Rock County and adjacent Jefferson County over the past couple of months," Fendry said.
The tracks are "consistent" with that of the cougar, said DNR mammal ecologist Adrian Wydeven.
DNR staff will be checking roadways, pastures, marshes and wild lands over the next few days looking for signs of the cougar.
The search will be in the towns of Milton and Lima in Rock County, especially near Storr's Lake and the Lima Marsh wildlife area. The cougar apparently was last seen near the Storr's Lake wildlife area.
If anyone sees what might be a large cat in northeast Rock County or southern Jefferson County, call Fendry at 608-275-3230.
"If possible, take digital photos of the animal and the tracks of the animal, and a tape measure to show the size of the track," Fendry said. "Record the time and exact location of the observation."
The DNR assumes the animal is a wild cougar until shown evidence to the contrary.
"The department will continue to monitor reports and if the opportunity presents itself, we would then consider capturing or radio collaring the animal, or removing it from the wild if evidence indicates it's of captive origin," Wydeven said.
Cougars are listed as "protected wild animals" in Wisconsin, which means a permit woudl be required from the DNR before someone could kill the animal.
Cougars have been documented in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.
There also have been several instances of captive cougars in Wisconsin escaping into the wild before recapture or disappearance.
Bill Novak — 1/22/2008 1:54 pm
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BREAKING NEWS
email story|print story
Wild cougar in Rock County?
Bill Novak — 1/22/2008 1:54 pm
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is looking into reports of a wild cougar being spotted northeast of the city of Milton in Rock County.
The last known wild North American cougar, also called a mountain lion or puma, disappeared from Wisconsin about 100 years ago, even though there have been undocumented reports of cougar sightings since then.
DNR warden Boyd Richter, warden supervisor Jeremy Plautz and wildlife supervisor Doug Fendry photographed the animal's tracks and were also able to collect blood and urine samples from the area, which will be submitted for genetic analysis to confirm if the animal is a North American cougar.
"We've been getting reports of cougar observations in northeast Rock County and adjacent Jefferson County over the past couple of months," Fendry said.
The tracks are "consistent" with that of the cougar, said DNR mammal ecologist Adrian Wydeven.
DNR staff will be checking roadways, pastures, marshes and wild lands over the next few days looking for signs of the cougar.
The search will be in the towns of Milton and Lima in Rock County, especially near Storr's Lake and the Lima Marsh wildlife area. The cougar apparently was last seen near the Storr's Lake wildlife area.
If anyone sees what might be a large cat in northeast Rock County or southern Jefferson County, call Fendry at 608-275-3230.
"If possible, take digital photos of the animal and the tracks of the animal, and a tape measure to show the size of the track," Fendry said. "Record the time and exact location of the observation."
The DNR assumes the animal is a wild cougar until shown evidence to the contrary.
"The department will continue to monitor reports and if the opportunity presents itself, we would then consider capturing or radio collaring the animal, or removing it from the wild if evidence indicates it's of captive origin," Wydeven said.
Cougars are listed as "protected wild animals" in Wisconsin, which means a permit woudl be required from the DNR before someone could kill the animal.
Cougars have been documented in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.
There also have been several instances of captive cougars in Wisconsin escaping into the wild before recapture or disappearance.
Bill Novak — 1/22/2008 1:54 pm
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another article--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=711109
Possible cougar sighting could be historic
Wild cat hasn't been in state since early 1900s
By LEE BERGQUIST
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 24, 2008
Conservation officials have been fielding reports of cougars stalking Wisconsin's countryside for years.
Audio
Kevin Edwardson talks with reporter Lee Bergquist
Advertisement
Buy a link here
None has ever been confirmed. But this time, the Department of Natural Resources believes it is closer to a confirmed sighting.
It comes in the form of photographs of footprints and an eyewitness account by a veteran hunter and trapper near Milton in Rock County last week.
Kevin Edwardson, 44, of the Town of Milton was called by his neighbor on Jan. 18 to look at some unusually large tracks that appeared to have come from a cat.
Edwardson, a welder by profession who spends much of his free time in the woods, followed the tracks into the hayloft of a barn.
Armed with a handful of rocks, he walked the length of the hayloft when he said a large cat jumped toward him, bounded out of a hole in the wall to the ground and ran to a nearby woodlot.
"That thing was so graceful," he said. "I was in awe."
He quickly called the neighbor, then his incredulous wife and then the DNR.
A game warden and a biologist, Doug Fendry, tracked the footprints for more than a mile before quitting. But they took photographs and captured samples of urine and blood that was sent Thursday to a laboratory in Montana for DNA testing. The blood might have come from an injured paw.
The photographs of the paw prints were e-mailed to biologists in the West who said they appeared to be from a female or young male cougar.
Adrian Wydeven, a DNR ecologist, said he will be looking for two additional details:
First, any reports of cougars that have escaped from captivity. Cougars, or mountain lions, occasionally are found in the wild in Wisconsin. But they have always been traced to private owners.
Second is the DNA test. If the report finds that the cougar is of South American descent, Wydeven said, it would be evidence the cat was from a captive source.
The Cougar Network, a national group, has found that most reports are erroneous.
"In our experience, the vast majority of reports are misidentification," said Mark Dowling, a director with the group. "We are constantly getting reports of house cats, golden retrievers, coyotes and bobcats."
Cougars are moving east, driven by the cats' strong population growth in Western states that forces them to seek new territory, he said.
The closest confirmed report to Rock County was in 2004 in Illinois, near the Quad Cities, Dowling said.
In Rock County, the DNR said, residents are beginning to comb through the area, and students and a professor from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point were expected to begin searching for signs of the cat in the next day or so.
If the reports are true, the presence of a cougar would be historic. The last known presence of cougars in the wild in Wisconsin was in the early 20th century.
Possible cougar sighting could be historic
Wild cat hasn't been in state since early 1900s
By LEE BERGQUIST
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 24, 2008
Conservation officials have been fielding reports of cougars stalking Wisconsin's countryside for years.
Audio
Kevin Edwardson talks with reporter Lee Bergquist
Advertisement
Buy a link here
None has ever been confirmed. But this time, the Department of Natural Resources believes it is closer to a confirmed sighting.
It comes in the form of photographs of footprints and an eyewitness account by a veteran hunter and trapper near Milton in Rock County last week.
Kevin Edwardson, 44, of the Town of Milton was called by his neighbor on Jan. 18 to look at some unusually large tracks that appeared to have come from a cat.
Edwardson, a welder by profession who spends much of his free time in the woods, followed the tracks into the hayloft of a barn.
Armed with a handful of rocks, he walked the length of the hayloft when he said a large cat jumped toward him, bounded out of a hole in the wall to the ground and ran to a nearby woodlot.
"That thing was so graceful," he said. "I was in awe."
He quickly called the neighbor, then his incredulous wife and then the DNR.
A game warden and a biologist, Doug Fendry, tracked the footprints for more than a mile before quitting. But they took photographs and captured samples of urine and blood that was sent Thursday to a laboratory in Montana for DNA testing. The blood might have come from an injured paw.
The photographs of the paw prints were e-mailed to biologists in the West who said they appeared to be from a female or young male cougar.
Adrian Wydeven, a DNR ecologist, said he will be looking for two additional details:
First, any reports of cougars that have escaped from captivity. Cougars, or mountain lions, occasionally are found in the wild in Wisconsin. But they have always been traced to private owners.
Second is the DNA test. If the report finds that the cougar is of South American descent, Wydeven said, it would be evidence the cat was from a captive source.
The Cougar Network, a national group, has found that most reports are erroneous.
"In our experience, the vast majority of reports are misidentification," said Mark Dowling, a director with the group. "We are constantly getting reports of house cats, golden retrievers, coyotes and bobcats."
Cougars are moving east, driven by the cats' strong population growth in Western states that forces them to seek new territory, he said.
The closest confirmed report to Rock County was in 2004 in Illinois, near the Quad Cities, Dowling said.
In Rock County, the DNR said, residents are beginning to comb through the area, and students and a professor from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point were expected to begin searching for signs of the cat in the next day or so.
If the reports are true, the presence of a cougar would be historic. The last known presence of cougars in the wild in Wisconsin was in the early 20th century.
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