Watch: Cougar caught on camera in Voyageurs region for first time

Scientists with the Voyageurs Wolf Project caught a cougar (Puma concolor) on a trail camera in the southern part of the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem this past October. That’s the first footage of the animal in the area. There have been only 59 verified cougar observations in Minnesota since 2004, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. None of those previous observations occurred in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, although they had been close. The researchers think the Minnesota cougars are transient young males traveling from breeding populations in the western Dakotas. Watch the video below.