Was Chicago Cougar in Wisconsin?
Cougar 'looks at us as food'
COUGAR KILLED | Cops, mayor defend shooting as experts try to find how predator got here
April 16, 2008
A DNA sample taken from the snows of Wisconsin might help unravel the mystery of how a rogue big cat shot by Chicago Police wound up in fashionable Roscoe Village this week.
But based on a necropsy performed Tuesday there doesn't seem to be any doubt the cougar was a wild animal, not a kept exotic pet that somehow got loose.
Donna Alexander, the administrator of Cook County animal control, said the animal was missing all the hallmarks of a kept animal -- his incisors, or gripping teeth, were intact, as were his claws. And there was no microchip inserted in the animal or reports from sanctioned sanctuaries of a missing cougar.
One possible lead came from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which contacted Cook County officials to tell them they had collected a blood sample from a cougar they were tracking. A DNA comparison and other tests will be performed to try and figure out where the cat migrated from.
Alexander said the cat could have been following the railway paths -- as various recent sightings in North Chicago and Wilmette would suggest. She said it's possible he was chased off his Wisconsin territory by adult males during this spring mating season.
That could have sent the young cat south alone looking for a mate.
"That's why he was a little bit disoriented,'' Alexander said. "He's young."
The cougar was just under 2 years old, weighed 122 pounds and had a fine coat -- good color and no lesions.
The big cat expert at the Field Museum -- who did not examine the cougar -- agreed it was probably wild, based on its elusive behavior. The pristine coat points to a diet of rich deer meat.
"He's looking for territory, looking for a mate,'' said Bruce Patterson, the Field's curator of mammals. "Young males do a lot of roaming."
Patterson said the appearance of the cougar is not entirely surprising, given the animal's population surge in the last 40 years since predator controls -- which allow certain animals to be killed -- were lifted. Cougars are now roaming into places they hadn't been seen for 100 years.
Patterson said there have been 14 cougar attacks in California between 1900 and 2000 -- but nine of those came in the 1990s.
"I'm anticipating we are going to see a lot more cougar-people conflict than we have in the past,'' Patterson said.
Alexander also said the animal was a serious threat to the neighborhood, especially children.
"They are not afraid of people,'' she said. "They attack people. Children have a tendency to run and become prey to them.''
On Tuesday, a smear of blood remained on the concrete where police shot the cougar after it was cornered and lunged at an officer. The animal was shot seven times, including in the leg and head.
City Animal Care and Control officers were first in the neighborhood early in the day after a teacher at Audubon Elementary school saw the animal sitting in an alley behind the school. The officers patrolled the area, and school staff canceled outdoor recess.
It wasn't until about 4 p.m. that the animal was spotted again. Officers shot it around 6 p.m. -- releasing a volley of shots some neighbors called excessive.
Marek Dygas, a veterinarian with the city's Animal Care and Control office, said that tranquilizing the animal was not a good option because it takes 15 to 20 minutes for the drug to penetrate the muscle of the animal. Cook County's Alexander said tranquilizing would have sent the animal running. When it slowed down, it would have been angry, she said.
Police brass and the mayor defended the decision to shoot.
"You've got a wild animal running in the streets,'' said Supt. Jody P. Weis. "And while it looks very playful and very sweet ... that cat was about a block away from an elementary school. It looks at us as food. The officers acted properly."
Mayor Daley agreed.
"I didn't see a neighbor running out and grabbing it and saying 'I love you, oh come in the house,' '' he said, wrapping his arms around himself in an embrace. "This is unbelievable.''
Contributing: Mark Brown, Mary Wisniewski, Steve Patterson
Cat steps: What to do if sighted by a cougar
"First thing you should know: Never turn your back on a cat," said Bruce Patterson, curator of mammals at the Field Museum, who has made about 30 trips to work with lions in Africa.
"Then look big. Never look inattentive or move the other way."
So it's a stand-off?
"Then you have a chance to think, and hopefully somebody will come by," Patterson said. "If you have to move, backing away slowly and deliberately is the way to do it. And you need to be prepared to fight back."
There's good cause for these cautious tactics.
"Their leaps are incredible, 15 feet at a bound," Patterson said. "Their closing speed is so much faster than anything you could muster to get away."
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