Star Tribune
Cougar killed on I-394 will become part of Minneapolis Parks exhibit
Cam Winton and others who live in the Minneapolis neighborhood where a cougar was seen earlier this month were saddened when the big cat was struck and killed by a motorist as it crossed a freeway west of downtown.
“Plenty of people were heartbroken,” said Winton, who lives near where the cougar was seen on home security video sauntering across a driveway in the Lowry Hill neighborhood in the early morning hours of Dec. 4. “A lot of people wanted to see a happier ending to the story.”
Now the large cat will live on, in a sense.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources approved a request from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to receive the remains of the 2-year-old male cougar, said Dan Stark, a large-carnivore specialist with the DNR.
In the coming months, the DNR will transfer the mountain lion to the Park Board, which plans to create an educational display featuring the cougar that will be on view at city recreation centers and other facilities, said spokeswoman Robin Smothers.
“I think this is a good opportunity to tell the story about cougars in Minnesota and ones that wander through the state, and to provide a connection to the community where it attracted attention,” Stark said.
Cougar sightings in Minnesota are extremely rare, Stark said. The cougar seen in Minneapolis this month was fatally struck while crossing I-394 near Theodore Wirth Parkway on Dec. 6. It was believed to be only the third cougar identified in Hennepin County since 2004. A tag on the cat’s ear revealed that he had traveled 650 miles from the Oglala National Grasslands in northwest Nebraska to Minneapolis.
The cat’s appearance attracted a large following on social media and generated several news stories.
“We were rooting for the cougar,” Winton said. The death “was a terrible thing.”
Winton had an idea. He called the DNR to see if it would be possible for the agency to give the cat to the Park Board. Then he called the Park Board to gauge its interest. The board said yes, and took things from there.
Winton is providing some help. He told neighbors about the idea for a display and circulated flyers asking donors to contribute $11,700 to cover the costs of taxidermy, shipping and signage for the display.
“The Park Board has done a wonderful job of springing into action and leading this initiative for the benefit of all city residents,” Winton said in an interview.
Park Board officials said they are not sure what to make of the whole situation, but they are going with it.
“Many of us were captivated by the prospect of such a majestic animal living among us and were saddened to hear how it met its end,” said Park Board Superintendent Al Bangoura. “Now, there is an opportunity to give the story a happier ending. I’m appreciative of the DNR and community members coming together to help educate future generations on the wonderful variety of wildlife that can be found in our city.”
Checks written to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board with the words “mountain lion” in the memo line can be mailed to Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Attn: Customer Service-Mountain Lion, 2117 W. River Road N., Minneapolis, MN, 55411.
Contributions can also be made by credit and debit cards over the phone at 612-230-6400. Gifts are tax deductible.
Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.
At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.
A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.
Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.
“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.
During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.
After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.
Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.
Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.
Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”
Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.
”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”
Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”
Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”
The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.
In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”
”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.
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