Colfax landowner suspicious of cougar stalking her horses - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

COLFAX, Wisconsin (WQOW) - A Colfax landowner says she's worried a cougar may be stalking her horses.

After noticing claw marks and puncture wounds on her animals, Stephanie Dusek believes a cougar attacked one of her horses.

Wildlife services isn't sure what's behind the attack but the DNR says there have been seven confirmed cougar sightings this year -- with one sighting each in Buffalo, Trempealeau and Jackson County.

Stephanie  describes the animals' wounds saying, "It had to be something that could of gotten in our fence without taking it down and the fact that they're puncture wounds. It appears to be in a claw-like manner with scratches underneath. It doesn't appear to me, to be something a bear would do."

Cougars are a protected species in Wisconsin.

They cannot be shot unless they attack a person or a domestic animal.