(WXYZ) — Last year, there were 31 confirmed cougar sightings across Michigan, according to data from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
That's the largest number of sightings since 2008, according to the DNR's data. However, the number of trail cameras has also increased, and the DNR operates more than 1,300 trail cameras in the Upper Peninsula alone. The DNR also said that some cougar sightings may be of the same animal by different people who are nearby to one another.
The sightings in 2025 were:
- Jan. 14, 17, 18, 27
- Feb. 19, 25, 26
- March 6 (two cubs), 12, 15, 31
- April 15, 22
- May 15, 23
- June 16
- July 24, 27
- Aug. 7
- Sept. 1, 18, 21
- Oct. 1, 2
- Nov. 10, 12, 15, 19, 20
- Dec. 6 (Mom and two cubs), 14
2025 also marked a historic moment for researchers, as cougar cubs were spotted in Michigan for the first time in 100 years. Back in March, state biologists confirmed photos of two cubs taken by a resident on March 6, 2025.
Brian Roell, a large carnivore specialist for the DNR, said in March that this could be the first known cougar reproduction in modern times in the Western Great Lakes states. Those states are Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
There was concern because the cubs were spotted and photographed without their mother, and cougars are highly dependent on their mother and often stay with them for the first two years of life, according to the DNR.
However, in mid-December, the two cougar cubs were documented again on a trail camera walking down a snowy trail in central Ontonagon County. Roell said the photo from Dec. 6 showed an adult cougar with two juvenile cougars that appear to be around a year old.
“The kittens’ chances of survival are actually pretty high because just like bears, cougars invest a lot of their energy into their young,” Roell said at the time. “So these kittens will stay with their mom through this winter and possibly even into next winter. They already have a leg up, seeing as how they’ve been with her for a year now.”
Cougars are native to Michigan but were essentially hunted out of the state by the early 1900s, according to the DNR.
“This isn’t an animal that is ever going to become very numerous,” Roell said. “They’re going to remain rare on the landscape regardless of whatever happens with them here in Michigan.”
Cougars are on the list of endangered mammals in Michigan, meaning it's illegal to hunt or harass them, which includes trying to locate their den on public or private property.
“Too much human pressure can also trigger the female cougar to abandon her cubs,” Roell said. “As with all wild animals, we’re asking the public to respect their habitat and allow them to live naturally in their home.”
