Cougar hoax visits Northfield

hoax-related cougar I know I do my part to create and spread Northfield-related faux news but I also spend a fair amount of time debunking items that people see fit to alert me to via email. Last week, it was an email with a photo about a cougar reportedly shot in SE MN. The Strib ran two stories on it: Is Minnesota becoming cougar country? and A cat with more than nine lives. The Wisconsin DNR even has a cougar hoax page: Incorrectly Identified as Wisconsin Cougars

A check of the premier hoax/rumor verification site, Snopes, tells the complete story of this cougar/mountain lion: ‘real photograph, inaccurate description.’   So please, when in doubt, first check Snopes before forwarding emails or blogging about seemingly hard-to-believe items.

7 Comments

  1. Jerry Bilek said:

    Griff,
    does this mean you won’t be posting my pictures of the Yeti I saw in the Arb last week?

    February 25, 2009
  2. Jerry, what a coincidence! I saw Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch, high on Manitou Heights the other day, far from his native Pacific Northwest! Who knew he had a penchant for lutefisk and lefse?

    February 25, 2009
  3. Of course, there was the Ocelot that was trapped and killed in Dundas.

    February 26, 2009
  4. Dave, are you sure the ocelot did not commit suicide because it found itself in Dundas? (That’s a joke, folks.)

    February 26, 2009
  5. Glenn Switzer said:

    Hmmm…

    Dave, about that Ocelot.

    March 1, 2009
  6. Looks like the poor thing was drugged (the ocelot, not the man). Or maybe it wandered into the L & M? Thanks, Glenn.

    March 1, 2009
  7. john george said:

    Wonder who spotted it first? Would you consider this a cat tail?

    March 2, 2009

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