Overview
- The Minnesota DNR said Thursday the trail‑camera video shows the state’s first documented cougar reproduction in more than 100 years.
- Researchers set two cameras on a cached deer after a GPS‑collared deer sent a mortality signal and recorded about four hours of footage of a mother with three large kittens.
- DNR biologist John Erb estimated the kittens at 7 to 9 months old and said their survival is uncertain due to wolves, male cougars, or vehicles.
- The Voyageurs Wolf Project had logged eight lone cougar sightings since 2023, but this is the first time its cameras have captured kittens.
- Cougars once lived in Minnesota before being wiped out, and most recent sightings were transient cats dispersing from the Dakotas or Nebraska.