Michigan’s Mystery Cats
Excerpt from The Top Twenty Cryptozoology Stories of 2002
By
Loren Coleman
The first of many "mystery cat" reports from southern Michigan began in February 2002. Near Niles, on February 2, the Young family saw a cream-colored large cat, the size of a German shepherd, 40 feet from their home’s French doors. They decided it looked like a cougar. The Youngs continued to watch the animal as it strolled east toward Edwards Way, a subdivision off of Brush Road. Jesse Young then went to the home of a neighbor, an avid hunter, and the two checked the footprints in the yard. The animal had crossed the flower garden, about 25 feet from the patio door, leaving pugmarks of a large cat. The Youngs’s report was the first of many, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources had an ongoing battle with the media all year, stating they did not feel these were really cougars. The DNR stated: "There is no substantive evidence that there are naturally occurring cougars in Michigan. Some argue that there are, but we don't have any good evidence there are." Of course, don’t tell that to the Youngs and the other witnesses that saw these mystery cats during 2002.
This report came in to us at Michigan's Otherside September 2009 from a fellow Michigander
"I didn’t know who to contact on this, but I read one of the articles on this site about mysterious cats of southern Michigan. Well about a month ago my wife and I were driving back from a friend’s house at probably 1 am. All of a sudden, two creatures or animals ran across the road. They had to be about 3 feet tall. I hit the one in the rear quarter with the bumper of my car, but it didn’t do any damage. I went back to the same area the next day and there was no body, blood or anything. No evidence at all. The animals were like a brownish in color and they ran fluidly like a cat. Their fur was smooth and short. I couldn’t get a better description of them as it was a matter of seconds."
Referenced from:
http://www.lorencoleman.com/top_cryptozoology_2002.html