Buffalo County (WQOW)- A cougar is roaming western Wisconsin. The cat was spotted between Gilmanton and Mondovi and now the DNR is asking for the public's help.
"They can cross a county in a day or two," says Wildlife Biologist Jess Carstens.
Carstens knows cougars. He tracked one in St. Croix County back in 2009 when a trail camera captured a photo of the big cat.
"We had snow conditions; tracks everywhere," Carstens remembers. "The landowner and myself walked through the strip of corn on the edge of the woods and managed to stumble upon a deer carcass that this cougar had killed."
Carstens says now another cougar has been spotted in the area. A trail camera took a photo of this cougar in Buffalo County on Saturday. It's only the second cougar sighting this year in Wisconsin.
"We conduct an interview with the owner of the photo, verify the backdrop. In this case, everything fell into place and we are confident that it was a recent photo and a genuine photo," says Carstens.
The DNR says if you do spot a cougar, resist the urge to run. Instead, puff yourself up and make yourself as big as possible and the cougar should leave you alone.
"We don't have a protocol in place to try and trap the animal or to put a radio collar on it or anything like that," admits Carstens. "We've got the best resource in the world out there with people. The eyes and ears of the public are really our best tool to keep tabs on this particular animal."
Carstens says although cougars are wild animals, they are afraid of people and usually won't attack unless they're being provoked. The DNR says if you do spot a cougar you can report online at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/forms/rare_mammal.asp.
