Tip leads to arrest of 2 men for illegally killing cougar at hunting camp in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

12/20/2013

LANSING, Mich. — State Natural Resources officials say two Bay County men face charges after a cougar was illegally killed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Officials say Friday in a release that conservation officers arrested the men after receiving a tip that the cat was killed at a hunting camp in northeast Schoolcraft County.

The case will be turned over to the county prosecutor.

Cougars are also known as mountain lions and are classified in Michigan as an endangered species. The penalty for illegally killing one is up to 90 days in jail and restitution up to $2,500.

Officials say since 2008 they have confirmed photos or tracks of cougars on 23 occasions in 10 Upper Peninsula counties. The last confirmed wild cougar in Michigan prior to 2008 was an animal killed in 1906.