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TwinCities.com – Pioneer Press
Apparent cougar tracks found in western Wisconsin
If confirmed, were they left by same animal sighted in northern suburbs?
By Andy Rathbun
arathbun@pioneerpress.com
Has the cougar seen prowling the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities crossed state lines?
A farmer has found what he suspects are cougar tracks heading east across farmland in Spring Valley, Wis. Barry Anderson first spotted the tracks in the snow Wednesday and said they stretch for half a mile or more.
After looking at photos of the tracks Thursday, Adrian Wydeven, a mammal ecologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, was pretty sure they belonged to a cougar.
Anderson, who has been farming in the area since 1969, said he has never seen tracks like the ones he stumbled upon this week. He’s not afraid of the possible cougar or concerned it could attack his animals, but it was “a little eerie” when he first saw the tracks, he said.
Wydeven said it’s hard to say whether the cougar is the same one last spotted last Friday in Stillwater — about 35 miles northwest of Spring Valley — but the DNR will be collecting biological samples like hair and scat that could connect the animal to the one seen in Minnesota.
Judging from the photos, the Spring Valley tracks appear to be close in size to those found in the north metro, said Dan Stark of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Harvey Halvorsen, a wildlife biologist at the DNR station in Baldwin, Wis., said he had been anticipating a cougar sighting in the area because the St. Croix River is frozen north of Stillwater. He said he plans to visit the tracks today.
The tracks won’t be verified as belonging to a cougar until the DNR can visit the scene, Wydeven said.
“We may discuss the possibility of whether we want to trap and radio-collar it, but initially we just want to get a sense of where it’s going and where it’s living,” Wydeven said.
Cougars are able to travel long distances and it’s possible the animal traveled from Stillwater to Spring Valley since last Friday, Wydeven said. They can also swim, and a river like the St. Croix wouldn’t be much of an obstacle for a cougar, even if it weren’t frozen, he added.
While reports of cougars in the area are rare, cougar tracks were found earlier this year not far from Spring Valley.
“We did have cougar tracks observed on a farm in Pepin County of May of this year — about 25 miles southeast of these tracks,” Wydeven said.
A cougar also was seen near Spooner, Wis., in March.
The night of Dec. 5, a police vehicle’s dash-mounted video camera caught a cougar on tape walking through a neighborhood in Champlin. The animal weighed an estimated 200 pounds.
A resident in Vadnais Heights reported seeing a cougar running through his yard two days later. Last Friday night, a cougar was spotted crossing Minnesota 5 in Washington County. Officials said they believe it was the same cougar seen in Champlin and Vadnais Heights.
On Tuesday, there were reports of fresh cougar tracks outside a convenience store in Stillwater, but they proved to have been left by squirrels and rabbits.
If suspected cougar tracks are spotted, the Wisconsin DNR recommends that you place a ruler next to a track, take a photograph and send it to your nearest DNR station. They also ask that you protect the track from the elements by placing a bucket or similar item over it.
Cougars are listed as protected animals in Wisconsin and there are no known breeding populations in the state, according to the DNR.