Hoaxes
Animals Incorrectly Identified as Wisconsin Cougars
Thumbnails link to larger images.
Honey, will you start the car for me?
The Fake Story: These photos have been circulating via email for quite some time often with the subject line of "Honey, will you start the car..." Numerous locational claims have been made with one claiming the photos being taken in Michigan, off G-12 Road in the Upper Peninsula while another states they are from Idaho. However, in one photograph (top, upper left), a Colorado license plate is clearly visible on the truck.
The Real Story: While the real story remains a mystery, these cats in the photos are not from the Midwest. It is highly probable they are from Colorado as evidenced by the license plate on the white truck.
A cougar in southern Wisconsin?
The Fake Story: This photo with accompanying email was brought in to a DNR Service Center and was supposedly taken on a trail cam near Brodhead and the Avon Bottoms Wildlife Area in southern Wisconsin. The picture of a cougar with a white-tailed deer is in front of a deer feeding device and on bare ground, both right away indicating it was less likely to be in a wild situation in Wisconsin.
The Real Story: This same story and photograph has circulated in several states, including Missouri and North Carolina, but was apparently taken at a Texas game farm. This hoax prompted North Carolina's Wildlife Resources Commission to issue a news release (exit DNR) regarding the hoax. This email hoax is now making the rounds in Wisconsin but with the place names changed to different states.
The Fake Story: "Here is a photo of a cougar killed in Pelican Lake, WI, about 25 miles North of Antigo. The guy who shot it (also in the photo) is 6' tall and weighs about 220 lbs. He was in a deer stand near Consolidated Rd. and County Hwy. B. when saw it pass him upwind and then downwind. When the cat passed him again he knew that it was hunting him, so he shot the cat, which then ran about 100 yards away where it died."
The Real Story: According to a news release from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP), this picture appeared in the
Buffalo County Cougars?
The Fake Story: The mother cougar and her 2 cubs were reported by some to be near Arcadia, Wisconsin in Buffalo County. The cougars were also reported by some to be from a location in northern Minnesota, and perhaps other locations in the Midwest.
The Real Story: These photos were taken by Dan & Arlette Schweitzer, of Keystone, SD on October 9, 2008. The photos are of an adult female cougar and apparently her 2 nearly grown cubs. They were feeding a white-tailed deer killed by the cougars near the Schweitzer property just west of Hayward, SD, and about 4 miles east of Keystone. The adult female has a yellow ear tag, and cougar researcher, Brian Jansen of South Dakota State University, believes she was a study animal that had recently slipped her collar. The pictures are not of any cougars in Buffalo or Trempealeau Counties in WI, or any location in northern Minnesota.
During the antlerless deer season a couple weeks ago, a man and his son were walking along a heavily-used trail on county forest land. They were surprised to look up at a large boulder and see a cougar's face peering down at them. The man quickly raised his rifle and they slowly backed away. The cougar stood motionless, watching them creep back. After they retreated down the trail and the man's son was secured in the vehicle, the father ventured back up the trail to try to scare the cougar away. As he approached the boulder, he noticed that the cougar still had not moved. He cautiously took a few steps forward with his rifle aimed right at the animals face. After getting even closer, he began to suspect that the animal was not alive and he eased his rifle down. Eventually, he stood inches from the big cats face and he was able to see that it was in fact a full-body mount of a cougar that had been carefully placed in this lifelike position. It appears that it was once a very nice full-body mount of a cougar standing up on a rock, but it was obviously well-worn with time. Apparently, the taxidermy mount's owner had thought it would be funny to set it out and see people's reactions...or perhaps he/she just wanted people to think that we do have cougars living in the state of Wisconsin.
Vesper Cougar
Fake Story 1: On Monday, March 24th, a taxidermist from the area saw a cougar eating a dead horse which had been drug into the woods by it's owner after it had died. The man called the DNR to tell them he had seen a cougar, however the person on the phone said there were no cougars in the state of Wisconsin. The man proceeded to explain he was going to shoot whatever it was. After the phone conversation the man supposedly shot the cougar and was showing people at a local bar, claiming he was going to make a mount of it.
Fake Story 2: In Vesper, Wisconsin (Wood County) on Monday, March 24th, a large cat, claimed to be a cougar, was shot and killed by a man who said the animal was attacking his pets.
The Real Story: "A game farm owner near Vesper had a cougar die of natural causes and called a local taxidermist. They wanted the cougar mounted as had been done for the last 2 of their cougars that have passed. The taxidermist picked up the dead cougar from the game farm, and decided to stop at a local tavern in downtown Vesper to have a few. A number of people saw the dead cougar in the back of his pickup. I talked to the taxidermist at his shop and he showed me the hide of the cougar in his freezer. He had already skinned it. I talked with the game farm owner also, and she confirmed that the cougar was from their game farm."
- Stewart Smith
Conservation Warden, Wisconsin Rapids
The Fake Story: This lion was hit between Eagle River and Woodruff, Wisconsin, by a car. Fish and Game had to come and put him down. He charged at the Fish and Game guy in the process.
The Real Story: It was actually hit on Hwy 64, north of Williams, AZ. The person in the photo is the DPS Officer that issued the salvage permit to the driver of the tow truck that struck it. The DPS Officer also happens to do taxidermy work on the side and volunteered to skin the lion for free. Supposedly, he had to dispatch the lion and in doing so, it made a lunge in his direction. No AGFD (AZ Game & Fish Dept.) personnel were involved except to verify the story.
The Fake Story: These photos have been circulating on the Internet since at least 2004, reported as from the Baraboo Hills in 2004. The broad-side photo of cougar was reported as "cougar from Butternut" in fall 2006.
The Real Story: These are probably unretouched photos, but evidence suggests they may be contrived, and most certainly weren't taken in Wisconsin. The deer in the top picture is a mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) which is only found in the western United States. The shrubs are clearly western vegetation and the trees are most likely lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) another western species. In addition, several other things about the photos make them suspicious. The chances of getting both a deer and cougar in the same trail camera frame at the same time is extremely remote. Also the deer seems totally unaware of the cougar immediate behind it. This suggests a staged photo.
The Fake Story: These photographs were circulated around the internet with a story stating that the cougar came on to a family’s deck (variously reported as in Tomahawk, Eagle River, Sawyer County) and was staring at the children who were playing on the floor. The photos were also reportedly from South Dakota, Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania.
The Real Story: These photos were actually taken outside Lander, Wyoming in 2005. Dave Hamilton of the Missouri Department of Conservation tracked the photos to Dr. Dave Rodgers, a dentist from the Lander area, who lives in an area frequented by cougars.
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