Cougar cubs have not been documented in Michigan in over 100 years, but state biologists can confirm recent photos officially ended the dry spell. On March 13, Michigan Department of Natural Resources released a trio of images that show a pair of tiny cougars roaming a snowy portion of the Upper Peninsula in Ontonagon County.

Although the big cats are native to Michigan, humans hunted them out of existence by the early 1900s. While the Department of Natural Resources has verified 132 sightings of adult cougars since 2008, all of them were believed to be transient males from western states. In the meantime, the local population has failed to rebound, and they remain on Michigan’s endangered mammals list.

On March 6, a pair of motorists driving in the western Upper Peninsula spotted what they at first believed were kittens from a different wild cat species.

“He thought they were bobcat kittens, and so he took some pictures of them, and someone else actually stopped, and they both talked about them, like, ‘Oh, neat kittens,’”  Brian Roell, a wildlife biologist and Michigan’s large carnivore specialist, recently told local news.

But state biologists believed the tiny animals didn’t match bobcat cubs after being tipped off to the pictures. Further consultation with out-of-state wildlife experts led them to confirm the kittens were actually 7-8 week old cougars. Given their young age, they also concluded their mother gave birth to them somewhere in the state. While the drivers didn’t see her at the time, it’s very possible that she was somewhere nearby, since cougars remain with their mother until they are around two years old. That said, it’s also possible they were unfortunately already on their own. 

“Those young cougars are very vulnerable right now. We don’t know where they are or if they’re even alive. Mother Nature can be very cruel,” Roell explained in a separate statement to The Detroit News.

Regardless, just spotting the cubs at all is good news, since it represents the first known modern cougar births in the western Great Lake states.

“It’s something that should be celebrated, that we have the habitat to support an elusive animal like this,” said Roell. In any case, Michigan Department of Natural Resources representatives took the occasion to remind the public that, should they start seeing more cougars, to leave them alone. It’s illegal to harass or hunt them, or even attempt to locate their dens. As such, Roell and his fellow wildlife biologists aren’t releasing more specific details on where the two cougar cubs were last seen. But with any luck, the photos may be the first of many to come as cougars return to the area.