The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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October 9, 2009

Your View — DNR should admit to possibility of cougar

Rep. Tony Cornish, Good Thunder

There are cougars in our area and that’s probably what the person saw in the St. Clair area. There, now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

In 22 years as a game warden, I’ve been frustrated by the stubbornness of the DNR to admit sightings that are indeed rare, but possible. I’ve personally seen a mule deer near our farm in Vernon Center and I remember the black bear caught in the corn picker years ago near Blue Earth. At least two timber wolves were shot accidentally in southern Minnesota and a moose ranged near Garden City for some time. I had to shoot an elk near Winnebago in a farmer’s field that had no ear tags from a game or elk farm and no explanation of where he came from.

Years ago, a wildlife official in northern Minnesota kept pins in the map every time he heard of a possible sighting of a cougar. The separate sightings formed a defined pattern and wouldn’t you know, a year later a video was taken of the cat that the DNR doubted ever existed. That was in Bemidji, which is the site of the recent road kill of a large cougar.

The more the DNR is pessimistic about sightings and downgrade the possibility of them, the less likely people are to report them as they feel “second guessed.”

For public safety reasons, if nothing else, the DNR should admit that it is possible these sightings are real and at least be on the lookout or aware of it.

The moral of the story for the DNR once again? Give the public credit for knowing what they see.

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