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The mountain lion that led two Duluth schools to briefly lock their doors Wednesday likely wandered to northern Minnesota from Nebraska, a likely journey of at least 500 miles. 

The Minnesota DNR has been tracking the cougar for the past several months. Trail cameras captured images of it near Fergus Falls in early September. Then it traveled east near Park Rapids, Brainerd, Grand Rapids and eventually to the North Shore and Duluth. 

Mountain lion spotted in Duluth

John Erb, a wildlife researcher with the DNR, said people should be cautious around mountain lions. But it's extremely rare for them to attack people. 

“When you look at all the mountain lions and all the potential encounters, very, very few result in any sort of attack on a human.”

Known sighting locations of Duluth's visiting mountain lion

Erb says the cat is likely a young male, adding that it's not that uncommon for young male cougars to wander for long distances from western states. He says while there have been other mountain lion sightings in Minnesota in recent years, there's no evidence of any breeding pairs of mountain lions in the state.

Erb says the videos show the mountain lion wearing a research collar and ear tags.

"We consulted with biologists in the Dakotas and Nebraska. And Nebraska was fairly confident it was one of their cats."

The mountain lion’s tracking collar is not working, so wildlife officials are relying on trail cameras and public sightings to track where it has been and where it’s going.  By now, Erb said the mountain lion could, at this point, already be out of the state. 

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DNR officials say they’ve been tracking the mountain lion’s journey across the state. It is originally from Nebraska, but was first spotted in Fergus Falls, Minn. in September. 

DNR officials say the mountain lion is from Nebraska, but was first spotted in Fergus Falls, Minn. in September. 

Mountain lion spotted in Duluth has been wandering across Minnesota for 3 months

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