The state Department of Natural Resources confirmed multiple sightings of a cougar in northwestern Wisconsin in mid-November.

The confirmation is the latest in a busy year of observations for cougar in Wisconsin.

On Tuesday, the DNR said that trail cameras last month picked up a cougar wandering in separate spots in Douglas County.

Two of the photos were captured on the same day on two properties about 2.5 miles apart from each other near Foxboro on the Wisconsin-Minnesota state line.

Three days later, two more photos from trail cameras on separate properties about 4.5 miles apart showed a cougar near Bennett, also in Douglas County. The second set of cougar photographs was taken about 20 miles to the east.

The DNR said that it is not known whether the cougar is the same animal photographed on multiple trail cameras in central Wisconsin between early August and late October.

Map:Sightings of cougar in Wisconsin

So far this year, there have been 11 recorded observations of cougars — the most since 2009.

Cougar sightings have been reported for years in Wisconsin. But it wasn't until January 2008 that a small blood sample found in a barn near Milton in Rock County confirmed the big predator had returned to the state.

Cougars were eliminated from Wisconsin in the early 20th century.

There were three sightings each year from 2013 through 2015. In 2012 there were 10 confirmed sightings, according to the DNR.

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The DNR says there is no evidence cougars are breeding in the state.

Biologists believe the cats are males dispersing from breeding populations in the west, such as the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Cougars are a protected species in Wisconsin. It is illegal to kill a cougar, except to prevent injury to humans.