Mtn Lion shot and kiled on Chicago's north side...

[truth]

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Cops kill cougar on North Side

Neighborhood stunned as animal cornered, shot in back alley

By Jeremy Manier and Tina Shah
Tribune reporters
April 15, 2008

A cougar ran loose in Chicago on Monday for the first time since the city's founding in the 19th Century. But by day's end, the animal lay dead in a back alley on the North Side, shot by police who said they feared it was turning to attack.

No one knew where the 150-pound cat came from, though on Saturday Wilmette police had received four reports of a cougar roaming that suburb, roughly 15 miles from the site of Monday's shooting.

Whatever its origin, the 5-foot-long cougar's unlikely journey ended in the Roscoe Village neighborhood, where residents reported sightings throughout the day to the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control. Resident Ben Greene said police cornered the cougar shortly before 6 p.m. in his side yard on the 3400 block of North Hoyne Avenue.

Greene said he heard a volley of gunfire as he was bathing his 10-month-old son. His wife, Kate, ran upstairs screaming with their 3-year-old son, and they all took cover in a back room.

"At first, I'm thinking there's a gun battle in the street," said Greene, who owns a trucking company.

As the shots stopped, Greene heard the police yelling, "We got him! We got him!" He ventured downstairs and moved on his knees to the front door, where he saw police on his lawn. The officers had shot holes in an air conditioning unit on the side of Greene's house while aiming for the tan cougar, which died in the alley near Greene's garage.

Chicago Police Capt. Mike Ryan said the cougar tried to attack the officers when they tried to contain it. Police said they could not tranquilize the animal because police officers typically do not carry tranquilizer guns. Police said no one was hurt and they did not know the cougar's gender.

"It was turning on the officers," Ryan said, adding that no officers were hurt. "There was no way to take it into custody."

Normally reclusive creatures, most cougars retreated to habitats in the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills early in American history. But some researchers believe overcrowding in recent years has driven the animals back east.

Two cougars have been killed in Illinois in the last decade. In 2000, a train struck and killed one in Randolph County in southern Illinois, and in 2004 a bow hunter killed a cougar in Mercer County in western Illinois.

But in the previous century, there had been no confirmed sightings in Illinois of a cougar, which is also known as a puma, mountain lion or panther. The last known appearance of the animal was in 1864 at the southern end of the state.

The Wilmette and Chicago sightings capped a flurry of recent cougar activity in the area, though no one knows if that was all the same animal. Several people reported seeing a cougar at the end of March in North Chicago, about 20 miles north of Wilmette. A Wisconsin trapper came face to face with a cougar in January, about 25 miles from the Illinois border.

That trapper said the cat bounded away 12 feet at a leap.

Starting early Monday, frightened Roscoe Village residents began calling police with reports of a cougar which was bounding over high fences in the neighborhood. Greene said his wife got an e-mail alert about the animal Monday morning through a neighborhood watch list.

Frank Hirschmann, 50, of the 3500 block of North Seeley Avenue saw the animal pass by his home.

"I was sitting on the porch, and all of a sudden he crossed the street, and hurdled a 6-foot fence like nothing," Hirschmann said. He said he then ran into his house and watched police chase the cougar on foot.

Animal control officials were not sure if the cougar was wild or an escaped pet, though they noted that it is illegal to keep the animals as pets. It's unclear how a cougar could have traveled south into Chicago from Wilmette, but the areas are connected by a Metra train route, on which the cougar could have walked, and a waterway.

Ben Greene's neighbor, Romeo Dorazio, had just gotten home from dinner when he heard about 10 gunshots.

"I knew it was really nearby. I walked to the window and saw a cougar," Dorazio said. "It was the freakiest thing I ever saw."

James Reynolds was sitting in his living room when he heard what seemed like "fireworks popping."

The 45-year-old went out in his back yard and saw a cougar attempting to jump from his neighbor's fence to his. He knew it was a cougar because he had seen it on the Discovery Channel, he said.

Officers shouted for him to go inside his house, and he saw them kill the cougar in about 10 shots.

A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said Monday that the state's current wildlife code does not protect cougars because they are not considered a normal part of the ecosystem here. The official said the only state regulations that might come into play would be gun ordinances, but because police did the shooting that issue is moot. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the Eastern cougar as endangered. But police could not confirm whether the cougar shot Monday was an Eastern cougar.

Greene said he agreed with the police decision to kill the cougar.

"As far as I witnessed, they did a pretty good job," Greene said. "Hypothetically, if there were kids in the yard and the cougar jumps in, what would the cougar have done?"

[Stu Gotz]

If the reader replaces cougar with "hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love", then the article is a bit funny.

Or not.

[TeleHoar]

Must have been getting behind in his "protection" payments.

sad.

[Hutch]

Too bad you weren't there to tame it, truth.

[truth]

Too bad you weren't there to tame it, truth.

You're not funny.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Poor cougar. That sucks.

[liv2ski]

Too bad you weren't there to tame it, truth.

Funny, but good luck training cats. Just ask that Las Vegas douche that got his head chomped on.
Sad they had to shoot the cat, that kind of bums me out. Whatever happened to watch it until the vet gets here with a trang gun?
Idiots

[The AD]

Probably some numb-nut kept the cat as a pet.

[ODHGABFE]

If the reader replaces cougar with "hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love", then the article is a bit funny.

Ok so I'm procrastinating writing a paper real bad, here you go.



Cops kill cougar on North Side
A hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love ran loose in Chicago on Monday for the first time since the city's founding in the 19th Century. But by day's end, the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love lay dead in a back alley on the North Side, shot by police who said they feared it was turning to attack.

No one knew where the 150-pound hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love came from, though on Saturday Wilmette police had received four reports of a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love roaming that suburb, roughly 15 miles from the site of Monday's shooting.

Whatever its origin, the hot middle aged strumpet’s unlikely journey ended in the Roscoe Village neighborhood, where residents reported sightings throughout the day to the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control. Resident Ben Greene said police cornered the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love shortly before 6 p.m. in his side yard on the 3400 block of North Hoyne Avenue.

Greene said he heard a volley of gunfire as he was beating his 10-month-old son. His wife, Kate, ran upstairs screaming with their 3-year-old son, and they all took cover in a back room.

"At first, I'm thinking there's a gun battle in the street," said Greene, who owns a trucking company.

As the shots stopped, Greene heard the police yelling, "We got her! We got her!" He ventured downstairs and moved on his knees to the front door, where he saw police on his lawn. The officers had shot holes in an air conditioning unit on the side of Greene's house while aiming for the tanned hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love, which died in the alley near Greene's garage.

Chicago Police Capt. Mike Ryan said the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love tried to attack the officers when they tried to contain it. Police said they could not tranquilize the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love because police officers typically do not carry tranquilizer guns. Police said no one was hurt and they did not know the cougar's gender. “It looked like a lady,” Ryan said, “but it definitely had a penis.”

"It was turning on the officers," Ryan said, adding that no officers were hurt. "There was no way to take it into custody."

Normally reclusive creatures, most hot middle aged strumpets looking for some love retreated to habitats in the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills early in American history. But some researchers believe overcrowding in recent years has driven the hot middle aged strumpets looking for some love back east.

Two hot middle aged strumpets looking for some love have been killed in Illinois in the last decade. In 2000, a train struck and killed one in Randolph County in southern Illinois, and in 2004 a bow hunter killed a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love in Mercer County in western Illinois.

But in the previous century, there had been no confirmed sightings in Illinois of a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love, which is also known as a cougar, gold digger, or mother I’d like to fuck (MILF). The last known appearance of the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love was in 1864 at the southern end of the state.

The Wilmette and Chicago sightings capped a flurry of recent hot middle aged strumpet activity in the area, though no one knows if that was all the same hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love. Several people reported seeing a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love at the end of March in North Chicago, about 20 miles north of Wilmette. A Wisconsin trapper came face to face with a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love in January, about 25 miles from the Illinois border.

That trapper said the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love bounded away 12 feet at a leap.

Starting early Monday, frightened Roscoe Village residents began calling police with reports of a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love which was bounding over high fences in the neighborhood. Greene said his wife got an e-mail alert about the animal Monday morning through a neighborhood watch list.

Frank Hirschmann, 50, of the 3500 block of North Seeley Avenue saw the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love pass by his home.

"I was sitting on the porch, and all of a sudden she crossed the street, and hurdled a 6-foot fence like nothing," Hirschmann said. He said he then ran into his house and watched police chase the cougar on foot.

Animal control officials were not sure if the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love was wild or an escaped pet, though they noted that it is illegal to keep the animals as pets. It's unclear how a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love could have traveled south into Chicago from Wilmette, but the areas are connected by a Metra train route, on which the cougar could have walked, and a waterway.

Ben Greene's neighbor, Romeo Dorazio, had just gotten home from dinner when he heard about 10 gunshots.

"I knew it was really nearby. I walked to the window and saw a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love," Dorazio said. "It was the freakiest thing I ever saw."

James Reynolds was sitting in his living room when he heard what seemed like "fireworks popping."

The 45-year-old went out in his back yard and saw a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love attempting to jump from his neighbor's fence to his. He knew it was a hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love because he had seen it on the Discovery Channel, he said.

Officers shouted for him to go inside his house, and he saw them kill the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love in about 10 shots.

A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said Monday that the state's current wildlife code does not protect hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love because they are not considered a normal part of the ecosystem here. The official said the only state regulations that might come into play would be gun ordinances, but because police did the shooting that issue is moot. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists the Eastern hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love as endangered. But police could not confirm whether the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love shot Monday was an Eastern hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love.

Greene said he agreed with the police decision to kill the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love.

"As far as I witnessed, they did a pretty good job," Greene said. "Hypothetically, if there were kids in the yard and the hot middle aged strumpet looking for some love jumps in, what would she have done?"

[Tippster]

They couldn't tranq it? Really? I hope my dog never gets loose in that hood...


RIP beautiful creature.

[BLOOD SWEAT STEEL]

IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!!1!11!1111!!

[Huckwheat]

Truth....I had been waiting to see this headline on TGR, and you blew it. Come on perfect time for a cougar joke.

My cousin called me from Chicago last night, he had just gone for a run and he turned the corner and this cat was trotting up the street (with all kinds of cops right behind it). He got to see the thing take off and leap a 6 foot fence like it was nothing.

He said there were animal control people around too.....I guess it was just a question of who got to it first. They had been trying to find the thing for 2 weeks. Bummer it couldnt have been tranquilized.....but if kids were in a backyard when it came leaping over.......at least that didnt happen.

[Lone Star]

perfect time for a cougar joke

stupid chicago morons. you're supposed to let the cougars take you home, not shoot them

[PassTheDutchie]

Probably some numb-nut kept the cat as a pet.

That's what I thought--I was hoping to hear news of the discovery of the numb-nuts gnawed, dismembered corpse. But, the word this morning is that it was actually a wild cat, which is pretty crazy as there are aren't supposed to be wild cats in IL; I guess it must have come down from Wisconsin, which is interesting in and off itself as the WI DNR has been downplaying/disregarding sightings of cats for years. They finally had their first "confirmed" sighting this past winter, but even that was a couple hundred miles from Chicago and was supposedly an isolated animal.

[Shredhead]

My place backs up to the biggest forest preserve in the western burbs. My wife and I saw one about a year ago, late at night.

No one believed us!

[Ripzalot]

++++vibes++++

[iceman]

With hunting pressure way down and deer (their favorite prey) populations exploding it's probably just a matter of time until they repopulate large swaths of their former range.

Too bad about this one, hard to believe they couldn't fink a trank gun.

[Cono Este]

10 shots? Fucking who is the threat?

I am surprised thos fat ass Chi town PD could find their guns. Worse PD in America.

[Son O' God]

Maybe Chicago PD mistook it for a Grey Wolf...

[Lone Star]

10 shots? Fucking who is the threat?

umm, the mountain lion?

[leroy jenkins]

That things pretty scrawny for a cat. Just young maybe?

EDIT: it also strikes me as odd that they shot a wild predator in an unfamiliar environment for displaying aggression when they approached it. They could have stayed in their cars till someone with a tranq gun showed up. They couldn't even hit it without shooting someones house either

[timvwcom]

That things pretty scrawny for a cat. Just young maybe?

EDIT: it also strikes me as odd that they shot a wild predator in an unfamiliar environment for displaying aggression when they approached it. They could have stayed in their cars till someone with a tranq gun showed up. They couldn't even hit it without shooting someones house either

Since they are likely to deal with tigers, leopards and other wild cats all the time in the city of Chicago, I just don't get it either... This was just a mile from my younger brothers new place, it's quite "citified" thru there.

[muted]

That things pretty scrawny for a cat. Just young maybe?

EDIT: it also strikes me as odd that they shot a wild predator in an unfamiliar environment for displaying aggression when they approached it. They could have stayed in their cars till someone with a tranq gun showed up. They couldn't even hit it without shooting someones house either

The cat was leaping over six foot fences. I doubt it would have waited around for the tranquilizer gun while the cops left to go have a rest in their car.

[Lone Star]

i think we should definitely be ridiculing and second-guessing the police officers more. after all, as someone trained as a forest ranger, I'm sure I could do just fine if I encountered, say, a gang war in the middle of a Wilderness area.

[truth]

With hunting pressure way down and deer (their favorite prey) populations exploding it's probably just a matter of time until they repopulate large swaths of their former range.

Too bad about this one, hard to believe they couldn't fink a trank gun.

Spot on Ice. Deer populations have exploded in the burbs of Chicago. There have been several encounters with coyotes in the city over the past few years the most recent one found a coyote cornered in a Quiznos Sub shop in the loop. There are train lines as well as the Chicago River corridor that act as virtual freeways for large animals to move through the area. My folks live in the north burbs along the lake in a heavily wooded and ravined area an my mom has sworn she's seen BIG cats over the past few years. Until now we'd told her she was nuts. She may still be nuts but she could very well have seen a cat.

As far as shooting the animal...the area it was in is filled with young families. The yards it was bounding in and out of could very well have been loaded with kids. What would the outcry be if the cat and mauled a 4 year old kid? The cops did what they had to do in the situation. Doesn't make it any less tragic but to condemn the cops is stupid.