BREITUNG TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a male cougar that was found dead along a road in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula had been caught in a snare.
First Lt. Pete Wright of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says the cougar’s carcass should have been taken to a DNR office. Instead, officials say it may have been thrown from the back of a vehicle. Investigators want to know whether it was caught accidentally or on purpose.
Under state regulations, snares may be used to catch foxes and coyotes on private land from Jan. 1 through March 1. Cougars are an endangered species in Michigan.
The frozen carcass was found by a woman walking her dog Feb. 1 in Dickinson County’s Breitung Township, about four miles north of Iron Mountain.
