Nina is one of only a handful of cougars raised in captivity that can still be kept legally as pets in Michigan.

What’s a 160-pound cougar doing in Jerry and Janice Drost’s front yard?

Anything she wants.

Nina, a 15-year-old declawed female cougar, or mountain lion, or puma, as the species is often known in western states, has lived with Drost and his wife at their rural Ellsworth home since she was just over two weeks old.

Nina was born in captivity in the Upper Peninsula in 1989. Drost’s brother purchased the tiny kitten from “Cougar Acres,” a now-closed exotic animal breeding facility once located near St. Ignace, as a gift for his then-bachelor sibling.

“I bottle-fed her for about eight weeks, which is why the people who had her mother sold Nina, her siblings and all of their other cougar kittens so young. Even born in captivity, mountain lions are innately wild, and need to bond with people at a very young age to be manageable,” said Drost, an employee of St. Mary’s Cement in Charlevoix. “It’s been a very unique and special experience to have Nina here with us.”

Allowed to join the rest of the family whenever she likes, Nina prefers to spend most of her days lolling on the grass of her shaded, fenced-in, roomy enclosure around the Drost’s home, playing with a variety of toys, or napping in her snug den under the deck of the house, like any other pet.

“This is her home, and she’s never tried to leave, although when she was younger, she probably could have jumped the 10-foot-high fence if she really wanted to,” Drost said as he rubbed the big feline’s head. “I’ve even opened the gate on a couple of occasions to see what she would do, but she just stood there. She’s never had any interest in getting out.”

But other animals have occasionally gotten in. “She’ll play with the occasional squirrel if one gets into the yard, and she used to chase the songbirds around a bit. Once, I looked outside and saw a wild turkey in the yard,” he laughed. “I was mildly concerned at first, because most of her diet is raw turkey, which she eats several pounds a day of, but she just sort of looked at it. The turkey flew right back out.”

Over the years, Nina has also enjoyed a number of human visitors. “As many as 400 or 500 people a year, I’d guess,” said Drost. “These days, we don’t allow as many people to visit her, because, like any other older animal, she’s gotten a bit grumpy in her old age, and doesn’t appreciate the company.”

Despite a full set of very impressive canines, the big cat has never, even accidentally, bitten anyone, says Drost. “But even when Nina was just a tiny kitten, her claws were lethal, so I had to have her declawed when she was 11 weeks old.”

Drost consults with a downstate veterinarian who specializes in large felines for Nina’s health needs. Like any other household pet, she is given vitamins, and has annual dental check-ups and cleanings and regular vaccinations. “It was something to see the looks on peoples’ faces when they’d see Nina sitting on the backseat of the car as we drove down the freeway,” he laughed. “She loved riding in the car when she was younger, and she’ll still walk on a leash.”

According to the feline specialist, at one time as many as 65 to 70 mountain lions were being kept legally in captivity in Michigan, Drost said. “In the 70s and 80s, there were quite a few of them around, I guess. There wasn’t any rules on keeping them in those days. Anyone could own one.”

Passage of state legislation known as the “Big Cat Act” in 1999, part of the package popularly known as the “Wolf Dog Act,” imposed a number of restrictions on breeders and owners of captive wolf-dog hybrids, mountain lions and other exotic big game species. It is now illegal for cougars and other exotics to be held in captivity without a special license.

Drost and other captive cougar owners at the time the legislation was enacted were “grandfathered” in, and permitted to keep their pets, although they were required to meet a number of special obligations, including secure enclosures and signs notifying the public of the presence of a possibly dangerous animal. Exotic animal owners must have their facilities inspected annually by a qualified animal control professional.

Jerry Drost can’t say what may have been the fate of the cougars once kept in captivity in the state. “Last I heard, only four captive cougars were still being kept legally in the state of Michigan. I hate to think that people would just turn them loose to be out there on their own—something I would never, ever, do to Nina—but I suppose it’s possible that some people might have done that,” he said, sighing sadly. “Most of the cougars once kept in captivity in Michigan probably died of old age, but with all of these reports we hear all the time about cougar sightings, you have to wonder.

“Forcing them out to try to care for themselves, especially if they were declawed, would be very cruel,” he added. “I doubt any of them would have been able to survive on their own for very long.”

Drost, who has communicated with a number of other Michigan pet cougar owners over the years, shrugs his shoulders when asked his opinion of recent videos of what appears to be mountain lions in lower Michigan. Grinning, he said, “I haven’t seen them, but I’d find it hard to believe that those are wild cougars. Wild cougars don’t just walk around in broad daylight where anyone can see them.”

But there’s no doubt where Nina is: She’s safe and sound, living out the remaining days of her life purring in her front yard, and offering proof that mountain lions do indeed exist in the state of Michigan.