MAPLE CITY -- Some say it was more than just a big cat two men saw in Leelanau County on Labor Day.
But state wildlife authorities, who've been reluctant to confirm occasional cougar sightings in northwest Michigan, aren't swayed by the latest report as the debate over their possible existence in the region rages on.
Dr. Jerome Wiater and his son spotted the animal on Sept. 7 as they walked near the south shore of Glen Lake on their way to water ski during a stay at their summer home. They snapped two photos of what they believed was a cougar loping along County Road 675 near the intersection with County Road 616, Wiater said.
"You realize you're looking at something different. Our eyes were locked on each other," he said. "I know what I saw. It was a cougar."
Wiater saw the animal flick its long, black-tipped tail before it disappeared into the woods, he said.
The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy believes him. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources doesn't.
"It looks a lot like a house cat to me," said Russ Mason, DNR wildlife chief.
Conservancy officials investigated the sighting, with additional on-site forensic photographic analysis. They concluded it was a cougar.
"That is no house cat," said Dennis Fijalkowski, the conservancy's executive director. "Anybody who lives in rural areas knows we have cougars."
Mason said Michigan's Lower Peninsula is an unlikely place for endangered cougars, also known as mountain lions. There are a couple of cougars roaming the Upper Peninsula, he said.
"There's no question that cougars are moving east out of the Dakotas and they will eventually make it here," Mason said.
But Lower Michigan is too populated with humans and lacks large wilderness tracts needed to support cougars, he said.
Fijalkowski anticipated the DNR's response. He said it's an animal the DNR wants to ignore and officials paint anyone who reports a cougar sighting as a "crackpot."
"They do not want to spend any of their time and money on the cougar and the easiest way to do that is deny their presence," Fijalkowski said. "They've been discrediting citizens for 40 years who have seen cougars and reported sightings."
Not true, Mason countered.
"They believe for some reason we want to keep this from the public. Why would we do that?" Mason said. "We would be very interested."
And there have been hoaxes.
Recent photographs of a killed cougar circulated on the Internet, purportedly shot in Mesick. The giveaway, however, was a New Mexico conservation officer shown in one of the photos.
The animal photographed this month in Leelanau County was close to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, where posted signs warn visitors about reported cougar sightings. But federal officials aren't certain the animals are roaming the national park.
"We don't know. We've never been able to establish any physical evidence," said Tom Ulrich, deputy park superintendent. "We do get reports every year of cougar sightings."
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