More Cougar Sightings Reported In Lake County

[TJ Phaserman 2]

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. - Despite another sighting called in to police, no cougar was bagged as of Sunday evening by officials in North Chicago, who have been receiving witness reports of a big cat in the far north suburb since Friday morning. Those included one from a police officer who said he nearly struck it with his squad car.

 

In Sunday's action, police Sgt. Kurt Nash said a motorist reported seeing an animal resembling a cougar around 10:30 a.m. near 14th Street and Lewis Avenue in North Chicago. The motorist added that the animal was heading west into the Greenbelt Forest Preserve.

 

In addition, a resident who did not wish to be identified told The News-Sun that he was walking in the forest preserve with another person around 12:30 p.m. and "we rounded the corner and ran face to face with the cougar. He was about 50 yards in front of us behind the Cultural Center on Green Bay Road."

 

"We stared at each other for about one minute before I slowly backed away," the resident reported. "I am a hunter, and there was no mistaking this animal for a deer. It was approximately 5 feet long, and was without a doubt a cougar."

 

On Friday morning, three people reported seeing a cougar-like animal in the area of Argonne Drive and Seymour Avenue.

 

Around 10 p.m. Friday, according to North Chicago Animal Warden Ted McClelland, credible reports had the cougar spotted on top of the North Chicago youth center near 16th Street and Lewis.

 

Officers surrounded the area, but the animal was not found. Paw prints were found at the scene. "We have three or four sightings from police officers. It's not a phantom animal at this point," North Chicago Animal Warden Ted McClelland said.

 

The plan now, McClelland said, is to try to team with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Lake County Forest Preserve officers to possibly track the animal and apprehend it.

 

McClelland has been armed with tranquilizing equipment that the DNR has told him would take down a big cat if a clear and relatively short shot can be made.

 

i just wonder who's fault this is...now i have to worry about it showing up in my neighborhood

[trekz 7]

You have to wonder where it came from. Butr at the moment since it's hanging around some public areas including a youth center, they need to tranquilize it and get it put somewhere safe, before either people or the cougar get hurt.

 

We had a cougar brought to our library from a facility in the south suburbs, Big Run Wolf Ranch, as part of a regular program we book each year. It was amazing, gorgeous and playful: it wanted to swipe at kid's picture phones as they took it's picture. But it has been handled for most of its life, and is still a playful youngster. The cougar being described could be wild or escaped from a zoo or private collection. They are not an animal to be trifled with. Up in Banff, there have been incidents of attacks on pets and runners.