BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said a cougar was stuck and killed on Tuesday morning near the intersections of interstates 494 and 35W in Bloomington.
According to a tweet by the DNR, the animal's body is being taken to the DNR Wildlife Research office in Grand Rapids for a necropsy.
Cougar sightings are rare, but not unheard of in the state of Minnesota. According to the DNR's website, the department has verified just 14 cougar sightings in the state since 2007.
A cougar sighting was reported earlier in September near Dodge Center in southern Minnesota.
RELATED: Cougar spotted near Dodge Center
"There is no evidence that Minnesota has a self-sustaining, breeding population. And, because of their highly secretive nature and tendency to wander, it is nearly impossible to accurately determine how many individual cougars there might be in Minnesota," the DNR website states.
DNR biologists say it's unlikely there have been more than a couple of "wanderer" cougars in the state of Minnesota at any one time in the past three decades. In most cases transient cats come from the western Dakotas, where populations are higher.
The DNR said there have been a number of cases of mistaken identity in Minnesota as well, where reported cougar sightings turned out to be bobcats, coyotes, wolves, or even light colored dogs.
According to the DNR, cougars can be identified in part by their heads, which are smaller than their bodies. Cougars tend to be tan in color, except for darker markings on the face and tail. A cougar's body can be four to six feet long, and its tail is often nearly as long as its body. Adult male cougars are generally around 150 pounds, but can reach 200 pounds. Adult female cougars weigh 90 to 110 pounds.
