115-Pound Cougar Struck By Car in the Twin Cities

Cougar sightings are becoming more and more common and not only in rural areas apparently.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources shared the photo of one large cougar that was struck by a vehicle near the intersection of 494 and 35W in Bloomington, this area is mainly retail and residential with lots of heavy traffic.

The cougar was a 115-pound male the was taken to the DNR Wildlife Research office located in Grand Rapids. The DNR says, "it will undergo a necropsy to determine, among other things, if it’s wild and where it might have originated."

The DNR acknowledges that cougars are verified in Minnesota once in a while, but it's more than likely that these are transient animals originating from the Western Dakotas.

Below is a map of presumed of known cougar sightings in Minnesota, as you can see, there aren't many sightings in the state, and the DNR says that there isn't any evidence to suggest there is a breeding population in the state.