Ok.. If we take into acount that less than 200 years ago there were mt. lions as far east as kentucky so therefore the habbit was there and maybe in some parts of the eastern us it still is there and take into account that there are a large number of stupid people who don't understand what these animals are when they adopt them as kittens and then a few years later have to get rid off them and maybe toss them out on a lone highway some where it is therefore logical to say there is or could be ISOLATED cases of big cats in the united states. More than likely, the reason that Michigan is not indicating a population, and this is just my opinion, is that there probably isn't any evidence of a Breeding population. So my opinion is that there may be isolated cases of a big cat but more than likely no breeding population.