State officials say the 40th cougar report in Michigan since 2008 has been confirmed.
The confirmation was made after an image of a cougar was captured Aug. 17 on a trail camera on public land in the Upper Peninsula's Delta County.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources large-carnivore specialist Cody Norton visited the area and substantiated the report.
Another trail camera captured an image July 7 of a cougar in Gogebic County, about 170 miles (273 kilometers) northwest of the Aug. 17 report.
Thirty-nine of the confirmed reports since 2008 have been in the Upper Peninsula. The DNR says the reports may include multiple sightings of the same cougar and that there is no conclusive evidence of a breeding population of cougars in Michigan.
In 2017, residents in Bath Township in Clinton County spotted a cougar. The sighting was confirmed by the DNR.