Pretty exciting stuff for crews in Northern Minnesota

Imagine being part of a research group that is studying a particular animal, and coming across something pretty rare - This is what makes their work so rewarding. A cougar just taking what looks like a leisurely stroll down a dirt road in the middle of the night, or early morning. So why is this newsworthy? Are cougars becoming extinct? They are not, but it's rare that they are seen in Northern Minnesota.

"We all just got super excited...We always knew it was a possibility..."

According to mprnews.org "The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website documents at least 59 verifiable cougar sightings across the state since 2004, including 15 in the year 2020 alone — although the agency cautions that there could be multiple sightings of the same cat" Needless to say the man who leads the Voyageurs Wolf Project - Tom Gable was through the roof excited "We all just got super excited...We always knew it was a possibility. But you're kind of left wondering, ‘are we ever going to really see one?’ So the fact that we got one was amazing."  The Project's ability to set up cameras all around the national park near the Canadien Border is definitely paying off. The crew came across the cougar video when they went to swap out the memory cards from their trail cameras - The group comes across many images of wildlife as you can imagine, but this is the first time they actually captured a cougar. Take a second and check it out yourself:

Voyageurs Wolf Project


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