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These are, simply put, my favorite among all wildlife. Imagine a house cat that weighs 100 or more pounds. That pretty much describes them.
They are fascinating creatures, the largest of the Lesser Cats, even though they can rival some of the Greater Cats in actual size. They are masters in stealth, blending in to the background so effectively that you can be 20’ away from one and not know it’s there. Generally speaking, they leave humans, and most livestock alone, but an injured or ill one may present a risk.
There has been an ongoing debate about whether a breeding population of Puma Concolor exist anywhere east of the Mississippi, but there have been persistent sightings as far east as New England. Speaking only my opinion, I have no problem believing that they could easily be breeding almost anywhere. As I stated earlier, they are masters of stealth, and given the vast woodland tracts of the northeast, it doesn’t seem far fetched that they could sustain a breeding population without being detected.
In my area, they are fairly common, but the Natural Resources people won’t even attempt to guess at how many there are. They are just too good at hiding. We occasionally find their distinctive footprints, usually following a night when the dogs in the neighborhood are raising hell, because they can detect the scent of a very large, very wild cat. (It happened again, last night, in fact.)
So, I hope that they are welcomed in the UP. They will strengthen the deer population and it’s unlikely that they will do any harm.