MIBowhunter
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Reported cougar kill may have been act of a bear
By Linda Gallagher
Correspondent
Onaway, Mich. — A pony reported by the owner to have been killed by a cougar may have been killed by a bear, a DNR investigation has shown.
The 300- to 400-pound pony, initially reported on local news stations as having been a full-sized horse, was killed sometime between the evening of Thursday, June 19 and the early morning hours of June 20 while pastured near of the home of Tom and Theresa Lupu, of rural Cheboygan County.
Brian Mastenbrook, DNR area wildlife biologist, spoke with the Lupus and examined the carcass on Monday, June 23.
“I heard about the incident … from a DNR law enforcement officer after the Lupus reported the kill to the DNR RAP hotline the previous Friday night,” Mastenbrook said. “I went up there immediately, but the owner had already moved the carcass, and it was already bloated and full of maggots. It was hard to do much of an examination at all, but I could see that nothing had tried to feed on it.”
Although Mastenbrook did not find any telltale hair on the pasture fencing, he did find what appeared to be a partial black bear track, and scat, which he collected and sent to Northern Michigan University for testing.
“The Lupus told me that they had actually seen a cougar on the night the pony was killed, but I don’t know how they could actually tell what it was,” he said.
Mastenbrook said he’d left his card with the Cheboygan County residents and asked them to call if they saw anything odd.
“The DNR is paying attention to all of these reported sightings of cougars that occur,” Mastenbrook said. “We want to know whether there are wild populations of cougars in the state of Michigan as much as everyone else does.”
As of press time, results of the scat testing were not complete, and the DNR biologist had heard nothing further from the Lupus, who did not return phone calls from Michigan Outdoor News.
In other Michigan cougar-related reports, nothing further had been reported as of July 1 about another Michigan cougar sighting in early June in Frenchtown Township of Monroe County in southeastern Michigan. That animal was reported sighted by local animal control officers responding to a complaint on June 3.
A statement from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office described the animal as 80 to 130 pounds, with a tan body and long tail with a black tip. The animal has been seen on at least one other occasion since early June, reports say.
Attempts to capture the animal are ongoing, said DNR officials, who were able to confirm from plaster casts taken of paw imprints in the area that the animal, probably an escaped exotic pet, is an adult cougar.
Officials are continuing to warn local residents of the potential risk to household pets and small livestock from a cougar, and are asking everyone in the area of Stony Creek Road to remain alert and to take proper precautions with all domestic animals.
By Linda Gallagher
Correspondent
Onaway, Mich. — A pony reported by the owner to have been killed by a cougar may have been killed by a bear, a DNR investigation has shown.
The 300- to 400-pound pony, initially reported on local news stations as having been a full-sized horse, was killed sometime between the evening of Thursday, June 19 and the early morning hours of June 20 while pastured near of the home of Tom and Theresa Lupu, of rural Cheboygan County.
Brian Mastenbrook, DNR area wildlife biologist, spoke with the Lupus and examined the carcass on Monday, June 23.
“I heard about the incident … from a DNR law enforcement officer after the Lupus reported the kill to the DNR RAP hotline the previous Friday night,” Mastenbrook said. “I went up there immediately, but the owner had already moved the carcass, and it was already bloated and full of maggots. It was hard to do much of an examination at all, but I could see that nothing had tried to feed on it.”
Although Mastenbrook did not find any telltale hair on the pasture fencing, he did find what appeared to be a partial black bear track, and scat, which he collected and sent to Northern Michigan University for testing.
“The Lupus told me that they had actually seen a cougar on the night the pony was killed, but I don’t know how they could actually tell what it was,” he said.
Mastenbrook said he’d left his card with the Cheboygan County residents and asked them to call if they saw anything odd.
“The DNR is paying attention to all of these reported sightings of cougars that occur,” Mastenbrook said. “We want to know whether there are wild populations of cougars in the state of Michigan as much as everyone else does.”
As of press time, results of the scat testing were not complete, and the DNR biologist had heard nothing further from the Lupus, who did not return phone calls from Michigan Outdoor News.
In other Michigan cougar-related reports, nothing further had been reported as of July 1 about another Michigan cougar sighting in early June in Frenchtown Township of Monroe County in southeastern Michigan. That animal was reported sighted by local animal control officers responding to a complaint on June 3.
A statement from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office described the animal as 80 to 130 pounds, with a tan body and long tail with a black tip. The animal has been seen on at least one other occasion since early June, reports say.
Attempts to capture the animal are ongoing, said DNR officials, who were able to confirm from plaster casts taken of paw imprints in the area that the animal, probably an escaped exotic pet, is an adult cougar.
Officials are continuing to warn local residents of the potential risk to household pets and small livestock from a cougar, and are asking everyone in the area of Stony Creek Road to remain alert and to take proper precautions with all domestic animals.
