I saw this on the TV news tonight. I'm so sick of the killings. this cat could have been tranquilized. they had it in a little alley and there were so many cops all shooting at once. the cougar didn't have a chance. I bet it did belong to someone and got out. It was horrible to watch.


 150-Pound Cougar Shot Dead In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) ? Residents let out a sigh of relief Monday evening after a wandering cougar was shot and killed in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.

There have been several sightings of a big cat in the past couple days.

As CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago reported, the cougar population, also known as a mountain lion, is estimated to be about 50,000 strong in America. And though there are no mountains around for miles, that didn't stop this cougar from making its way into the city.

The fully grown cougar shot in an alley weighed about 150 pounds and was five feet long, not including its tail, according to Mark Rosenthal of Animal Care and Control.

The cat leapt a fence and ran into a gangway between two houses. Police were on the other side of the fence, firing shots the entire time.

Add in the tail and you're talking eight or nine feet of wild cat.

Frank Hirschmann saw the cougar and said he received the fright of his life.

"I seen a mountain lion jump a six-foot fence like it was nothing right by my house," he said.

Mountain lions are the fourth heaviest cats in the world. Since 1990 they've been linked to the deaths of 10 people, so police weren't taking any chances when they swarmed the block around 5:30 p.m. Monday.

"The police pulled up and asked us all, pretty heatedly, to get our kids and our animals in the house," said area residentTracy Welsh.

A short while later Welsh and her children saw the cougar dart across the street.

"It was surreal, and we were thrilled to be inside the house and safe," Welsh said.

Animal Control received the first report of a cougar sighting early Monday morning, but their officers armed with tranquilizer guns never saw it. When police finally spotted the animal this evening, the tranquilizers had been replaced with bullets.

"It's a shame to lose such a beautiful animal, but it had to be done," said witness Ed McCarthy.

Authorities say the animal's body will be checked for any markings, chips or tags that would show if it is owned by anyone.

Authorities in suburban Wilmette say they received several calls on Sunday reporting alleged cougar sightings. Police searched, but did not locate the animal.

Experts say they do not believe it was the same cat killed Monday evening.

There are no established cougar populations east of the Mississippi River

Did You see it? If I had known they were going to shoot it on TV ,I wouldn't have watched it. It really upset Me.

I have learned to be very fast with the remote when watching the news.

Way too many disgusting things that they show.

db

I didn't see it.  They should not have shown that.   

I absolutely agree, it should not have been shown. It upset me, and my elderly mother. When they first spoke of the upcoming story, we thought it would be a story about a cougar they had captured. And they should have used the tranquilizers.

Just heard on the news that there is a good possibility that this cougar may be the one that was in southern WI awhile back, as I speculated above.     They are doing DNA testing to compare to the DNA test on what was here.  (Apparently the one in WI got into a deserted barn, scraped its foot, and left behind blood, which they tested.  That is how they were able to confirm the sighting as a cougar, and not the product of someone's overactive imagination.)

The Wisconsin cougar was confirmed as a genetic match for wild populations in SD.  The DNA did not match any known strains of "pet" cougars.  Our Department of Natural Resources was very surprised, because they fully expected it to be from "pet" stock that had escaped.  They believe that the WI one migrated from South Dakota.

Here is a map.  The Wisconsin cougar was sighted near Milton Wi, marked by the red star on the Mapquest link. 

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/milton+wi/

If you zoom out, you can see it is not that far from Chicago. If a cougar made the journey all the way from South Dakota, it could certainly go this distance in a few months.

So glad I didn't see the actual shooting. Just listening to the politico's here speak about how this poor animal needed to get shot as it was a threat to that cop??? What a crock of bull pukey! The way the animal was facing after being shot it was walking away from the officer not approching him. They should have tranqued this beautiful animal and set it back free out in the wild way up in Wisconsin or someplace where cougars are in abundance. So ashamed of the people in ofc. here to make such a spectacle of themselves in this way. If they care so little about an animals life that should be a clue as to how they feel about the people who live here in IL.