"happyness is a large gut pile"
a quote from ted nugent
B

I stand corrected it was a day before the humane society was out searching

The release stated "the cougar was first reported to Cook County Animal Control on March 29. As a result, animal control officers armed with tranquilizer guns searched the north Chicago suburbs but did not find the cougar after a day-long search."

Obviously they were prepared to take it down with tranqs the day before, so I assume that they still would have been ready for the very next day. And it stated tranq guns, so I would think that more than one officer had the capibilities to sedate the cougar. A simple radio call to the Humane society would have given them a chance to get to the scene and tranq the cat.

As for the cat maybe would have attacked??? I don't know it seems like it was just looking to find a way out of the city.

I personally would be more afraid of a stray dog or house cat for that matter biting a child/adult. I know of someone who ended up in the hospital for 3 days after a stray cat bite. the likleyhood of the cougar attacking instead of running away is still realtivly low compared to the odds of being hospitalized by a dog or car bite.

nascar-you say "we are the ones invading its space"? How so? When I moved in to Rock County, I don't recall any cougars pointing out where we could or could not live. As far as those in that Chicago suburb-I'd be willing to bet anything I own that they would tell you the same. Besides, he was apparently from S. Dakota-he was moving in on OUR space.

living in the northwoods, I'm afraid to run into a bear let alone a cougar. No choice but to shoot the "cat", think of the little children that could have been killed.

To those who are sad it's dead...What would you do if you saw it roaming around your city? Shoo it away? Ha, right. It can out run, out bite, and out kill a person. It's an unfortunate situation that it had to die, I agree. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Wow. Some people just don't get it. First of all, for all the Disney fans, just where do you think a "safe" place for this animal to "roam free" for the rest of it's life is? It has already traveled from the Dakota's, through Minnesota, Wisconsin and into Illinois. As fare as it being "their" territory... Maybe it was, but it is ours now. Not a very warm and fuzzy point of view, but it is fact. I enjoy mother nature as much as anyone, but I really don't want to take it to the level of getting mauled by a cougar or a bear in my backyard, which is very much part of what mother nature is about. Cougars kill other animals for food, period. I like to think I am at the top of the food chain, but I am not naive enough to think that humans hold this position alone. There are plenty of animals that can and will kill and eat people. This almost never happens because the majority of people do not spend enough time out of the city, and most of these animals do not venture into populated areas. For some reason this particular cougar did, which means he needed to be removed. As has already been said, tranquilizer guns are not a quick and easy operation. I guess they could have tried "Freeze Cougar!" but I think the police did the right thing.

twerp13 What Humane Society was out looking for 2 days?

The cougar was spoted from Milton to S.W Beloit to Clinton to Chicago that we know of, and the D.N.R was guessing it had come from the Dakota's.

Where was it going to be released to if they captured it?

"Not forced to shoot the animal". Are you f'ing serious. Come on. Have you ever lived in a city? That thing could have gottened cornered and killed someone. Chicago is not the natural habitat for a cougar. That was not a common situation for the police either. I believe they acted appropriately.

What heroes they have in Chicago. Maybe we should send them to defend the border. After all they seem to shoot things that are out of there "natural territory" What is with all the pictures,crime scene tape and the man hours that went into this whole thing. If I recall we are the ones invading there space and we go and shoot them?? What a Joke!!!!

It's called "survival of the fittest." If the cougar had been smart, he would have gotten out of there as soon as he heard the menacing music playing when the humans approached.

twerp, the pictures of the dead cougar were terrible and sad, and it should have been assumed it would cause an uproar among most to publish it. It served no purpose. (I can't imagine anyone not believing it was now safe to walk the streets until they saw the photos of the dead cougar.)
But-if the police had the animal cornered, it ran by them once and jumped a 6 foot fence in a populated area-how wise would it have been for them to try to keep it in their sights while waiting for the animal specialists? If it would have been that easy for them to find it and keep it cornered, why hadn't the "specialists" already done that? Did they dare assume that they'd be there in a flash? Obviously they did not shoot the second they saw it. Are we sure they did? The animal was seen, and photographed, running and walking at least briefly. It's easy for all of us to second guess their decision-we didn't have a frightened animal, out of its element, breathing down our necks.

I know for a fact that they could have easily tranquilized and transported that cougar to a safe place where it could roam free the rest of it’s life. I saw it done on a Disney show once. I also know for a fact that deer, raccoons, bear, birds and other critters all talk to each other in perfect English out in the woods when there aren’t any humans around. The folks at Disney wouldn’t release something that wasn’t absolutely true would they?

For those who think tranqing the cougar wasn't an option please think again. The Humane society was looking for this animal for 2 days ready with tranq guns. Why the heck didn't the police call them right away? Seems to me that the police were too quick to want to shoot this animal.
Maybe they thought it was truly a danger, but I suspect they wanted the glory of shooting a cougar and perhaps the news coverage that would come with it. However I think it backfired and it is actually generating more negetive press than good. Don't know but why else would you choose to shoot this poor creature so many times without first calling for the humane society(who was out looking for this cat)and allow the media to take such awful pictures of it's dead body.

I'm relieved that the cougar is no longer roaming. It was scary to hear the news when it was in the Milton area.

I don't think anyone is happy that it was killed (well, on 2nd thought, I'm sure there are).

It seems the more we build and cut down the natural habitats of animals, the stranger the news of deer, bears and other wild animals "invading" our communities becomes.

get real people. You people would rather it have mauled and killed little children instead of it being harmed. Get a clue.

yep, otis, and then, if it didn't work in the way that some posters suggest would have been so easy, and the animal responds in the natural way when it feels threatened, attacks a wondering 10 year old who so boldly walks in this animal's newly established territory (apparently this kid would have been infringing on territory reserved for wandering cougars), then we wait to see the comments about that incompetent police force not taking care of it when they had a chance.
Ask questions first, shoot later doesn’t necessarily work with animals who can’t reason with humans. We’re taking over their habitat? Where’s ours then? They should have captured it? Like...here kitty, kitty?
It is sad, very sad. But it’s easy to decide how they SHOULD HAVE protected the public while saving the cougar. Where were you when they were trying to keep the streets safe for those who lived and worked there? It’s not your job, but you get to decide how it’s best to get it done right?

Does anyone relise the training,cost and resources to even make it feasible are staggering.

And are you really going to look at the animal, select the right drug for that species, judge it's weight, select the right dart, prep your gun, load your dart, load the dart into the gun, find the animal again because by this time you've lost sight of it, Get within range of the gun to tranq the animal, less then a few hundred feet, if not 20 feet, Finally shoot, Don't miss or you have to restart, Almost done, Now all you have to do is keep track of the animal if the dart falls out of the animal recover it because it may still have drugs in it and you can't have that laying in the neigborhood were kids could find it, then 10-15 minutes after the dart is in the animal, hopefully the right drug, dosage, and placement of the dart the animal is sedated. Now all you have to do is get a cage to hold the animal, And then you may have to have a drug to counter act the tranq or the animal may die.

I can see an officer doing that much easier then using his gun.

I also am saddened by this news. As I head toward my 50s, I spend more time enjoying mother nature and all that God has given us to appreciate. Whether the cougar was a threat or not, I don't know. My wish was that it could have been sedated and returned to its natural habitat. In our race for progress, we humans have greatly damaged the animal kingdom. Am I the only one who feels sick about this stuff?

poor thing.

I think they were forced to shoot it. If it would of hurt or killed someone everyone would say why was nothing done about it. This is not a house cat.

How pathetic. Can you imagine the terror that cougar was experiencing as it tried to avoid civilization in its quest to remain free and wild?.. Just a week ago, a similar story unfolded out in New Jersey when some overzealous cops couldn't wait to blow away a juvenile black bear that wandered too close to "civilization"..

to me I don't think the cougar would do anything to harm the residents if they just stayed away from it.
they didn't have to shoot it. they could have just captured it and held in captivity until they found a home for it
poor cougar
it's sad isn't it

very true lucky

i cant find the link to the chicago tribune article that is more specific. but according to that it seems that was their only choice because OF NO TRAINING with trank guns

It's you.

Why is it that in a matter of weeks we can test DNA for an animal, but we have to wait months for DNA to prove someone of a crime. Is it me or does this seem rediculous?

I don't think that the cougar wanted to hurt anyone. It was just moping around because his family lost their jobs at GM.

What a joke! Was it really necessary to shoot it and to do so that many times? You couldn't have tranquilized it?
RE: "...Chicago Police who were forced to shoot and kill the animal to protect residents, children and their small pets." I don't think so. I think some got a little trigger happy.

they were not "forced" to shoot the animal...

poor cougar.... :(

:-(