Mountain lion spotted last week hasn’t been seen again

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A mountain lion spotted in a tree in Burnett County near Spooner on Mar. 4. Officials say the mountain lion has not been seen since and they have stopped efforts to capture it and put a radio collar and tag on it. Photo courtesy DNR

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A mountain lion that ran away after it was almost captured last week in northwest Wisconsin was never seen again.

Jim Bishop of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said the cougar is thought to be alive and it might have headed west to Minnesota.

Searchers used fresh snow cover this week to look for cougar tracks but they didn’t find any.

A resident saw the mountain lion near Trego on March 2, and chased it to a place west of Spooner where it ran up a tree.

Wildlife officials photographed it and tried to stun the mountain lion before it ran off into the nearby woods last Thursday. Apparently, no one has seen it since.

The DNR was hoping to get a blood sample to see where the cougar came from and to put a radio-collar on the animal to keep track of it.

It was thought to be 2-3 years old, weighing up to 120 pounds, and it looked healthy.

It’s been more than a century since cougars lived in Wisconsin.

The last time one was spotted was a year ago near Milton. It was later found in Chicago, where police killed it.

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