Leelanau County, Michigan - cougar sighting.
Reported Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 3:51 PM
to www.savethecougar.org
Date of Observation: June 18, 2010
Time: Approx. 10:25pm
County: Leelanau
Location Description: It was a grassy area with a cabin to the left and pine trees to the right. (It was at Leelanau's Rustic Resort, which is located on the west side of south Lake Leelanau.)
Sighting Description:
At the time this occurred, it was very quiet & I was the only person outside at the Resort. There was little to no wind, and it was approx. 77 degrees. I was standing outside, talking on my cell phone to a friend in St. Clair Shores (which is where I'm from), to find out what the storm prediction was for our neighborhood. While walking/talking, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, so I turned and looked that way. I then saw something move in the shadows behind one of the cabins, so I kept talking but watching. I then saw a large tail sway back and forth as the animal moved toward me. That's when I stopped moving and noticed that it was light in color (I would say, tan) and had the head & body of an over-grown cat. (I own 2 cats, and that was DEFINITELY a cat.) I'm 5'7, and the body was about as high as my knees to middle thigh, and it was lean. When all this info made it's way to my consciousness, I freaked, as it was still moving toward me from the shadows of the cabin. Needless to say it didn't even occur to me to try and get a picture or video of it with my cell phone ... I just screamed and ran and watched over my shoulder to see if it was chasing me - which it didn't. When I screamed, it just stopped walking, and then turned back behind the cabin. (I kept running of course.) When I informed someone else at the Resort about what I had seen, that's when I found out that someone else had said they had also seen a bobcat or cougar on the property earlier in the week. When talking with some of the locals who live in Cedar, they said that I must have seen a cougar and not a bobcat because what I saw had a long tail, and bobcats don't have long tails (?). I called the Traverse City DNR office and left a msg, but no one called me back to get any info. I came across the MI Wildlife Conservatory and reported my sighting, and came across your site as well, so I decided to share my story with you also. Thank you.