OT - Cool info on the Chicago Cougar

[Old Ironsights]

chicagotribune.com
Cougar killed on North Side may have wandered from Black Hills
By Robert Mitchum and Jeremy Manier

Tribune reporters

April 16, 2008

The voyage may sound improbable, but wildlife officials say that a DNA test should reveal whether a cougar killed Monday in Chicago took a 1,000-mile trip from the Black Hills of South Dakota through Wisconsin before being shot by police in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.

On Tuesday, veterinarians performed a necropsy, an animal autopsy, on the cougar at the Cook County Animal and Rabies Control facility in Bridgeview. Early evidence indicated that the cougar was of wild origin, rather than an escaped captive, and samples were taken for comparison to blood that a cougar left in January in Milton, Wis.

DNA analysis suggested that the Wisconsin animal was most similar to those which live in South Dakota, and experts say it may be the same specimen that eventually strayed into the city.

"It's intriguing to think it may end up being the one that was here in Wisconsin," said Doug Fendry, a wildlife supervisor for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The unexpected visit fascinated researchers and put police officers in the unusual dilemma of balancing public safety with the beauty of an animal not seen in Chicago since the city's founding in the 19th Century.

Most wildlife experts who have dealt with the potentially dangerous animal, also known as a mountain lion, said it's difficult to criticize the Chicago Police Department's decision to shoot the cougar Monday saying that such animals pose a threat to humans and are difficult to effectively tranquilize.

"Determining what you have to do for public safety can be a gray area," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for California's Department of Fish and Game. "Mountain lions can be very difficult to tranquilize and then move."

Police defended the shooting Tuesday, saying that the decision to shoot the animal protected bystanders and was not out of line with their usual response to threatening animals.

"There's no time to waste when you have a predator, an animal like this," police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. "We shoot pit bulls who charge [at officers], so [would it make sense] to let the cougar charge?"

Mayor Richard Daley supported the police use of lethal force in a news conference Tuesday morning.

"Now, I just want to tell you, if the cougar attacked a child, they'd sue the city because the police officer didn't do their job," Daley said"I didn't see a neighbor run out and grab it and say, 'Oh I love you' and bring it in the house."

Although humans and cougars must live together in many parts of the country, it's extremely rare for them to meet in a densely populated urban area like Chicago, said biologist Alan Rabinowitz, a former researcher at the Bronx Zoo and president of the Panthera Foundation, which is dedicated to helping big cats and people co-exist.

But Monday's encounter pushed the limits of that idea.

"If you don't put an animal like this down fast, you are risking a person's life," Rabinowitz said.

The animal was shot by police shortly before 6 p.m. Monday in the 3400 block of North Hoyne Avenue, police said. Mark Rosenthal, operations manager for the Chicago Commmission on Animal Care and Control, said that a crew was en route to the neighborhood when the shooting occurred.

On Tuesday, officials at the Cook County Animal and Rabies Control sought to answer whether the cougar was wild or had escaped from captivity.

"He did not have any identifying marks as if he had been owned. He was a wild cat," said Donna Alexander, administrator of the agency. She cited the lack of a microchip tag or tattoo, and intact claws and teeth that would normally be removed.

Tests being conducted by a veterinarian from the University of Illinois will determine the age of the cat, and DNA samples taken from the cougar will be given to wildlife officials from other states to try and trace the animal's movements, Alexander said.

A young male cougar will roam away from the land of its birth almost by instinct, many experts said.

Clay Nielsen, wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and director of scientific research with The Cougar Network, said that more cougars are wandering out of high cougar population areas like South Dakota into Midwestern areas that have not seen them for hundreds of years.

Though the cougar spotted in Wisconsin had not caused any safety problems and Fendry had no reports of it killing livestock, he understood the concern that led Chicago police to shoot the animal found in Roscoe Village.

"When an animal gets in a urban area and gets confused, it can respond aggressively," Fendry said. "Occasionally up here, we'll get a bear in an urban area and it will have to be destroyed."

Martarano said tranquilizing a cougar requires specialized knowledge.

"It's hard to get close enough to get the dart in the right area," said Martarano, who said the darts have no effect if they hit a bone. "It takes a while for the drugs to take effect, and during that period the animal can get agitated. If a lot of people are around, that can cause problems in itself."

Though California has the most cougars of any state with a population estimated between 4,000 and 6,000, attacks on humans are extremely rare. The state has recorded just 13 attacks since 1990, with three deaths.

Whether this week's cougar is the harbinger for more exotic animal visitors to Chicago or merely an anomaly remains to be seen.

But once the tests have been performed, and the long trek of the cougar has been unraveled by experts, the cougar killed Monday may find its journey's end at the Field Museum, which has requested the skeleton.

"It's going to stay in Cook County," Alexander said.

Tribune reporter Angela Rozas contributed to this report.

rmitchum@tribune.com

jmanier@tribune.com

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

[TNBigBore]

Couger sightings in places where they "should not be" have always intrigued me. Thanks for posting that.

There have been an increasing number of couger sightings in Alabama over the past three years. I have no doubt that they are reclaiming much of their old range, especially with the deer population explosion over much of the country.

When I worked for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency doing wild trout population studies we used to get lots of reports of sightings in the East TN mountains. I am sure there are established populations up there.

[Blaine]

Rumers persist in SE Ohio around the river/mtns.....F&W, of course, deny knowledge of them.....

[sore shoulder]

Rumers persist in SE Ohio around the river/mtns.....F&W, of course, deny knowledge of them.....

Like they did in OK, which was fortunate for the farmer who had the feds show up looking for the signal from a Mtn Lion that didnt exist that was buried in his front yard. Kinda hard to press charges for something that doesn't exist.

[Old Ironsights]

Wanna read somthing crazy? There are nearly as many lifeless ARFs writing to Billings MT papers as there are writing to the Trib...

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/200 ... 5-lion.txt

[Rimfire McNutjob]

... nearly as many lifeless ARFs

OK, I give. What's an "ARF"? If it's "Anti-RimFire" I'm going on the warpath.

[nemhed]

You know, in all honesty, I feel sorry for that cougar also. I made a wrong turn coming out Wisconsin one time and ended up lost in Chicago. man, what a nightmare, luckily I didn't get shot.

[Lefty Dude]

It O.K. for the Chicago police to kill a Couger. And a Western Rancher goes to Jail for killing a Wolf that kills his cattle.

Wait till the Wolfs start going into the City's. What will the Sheepeople do then

[Old Ironsights]

... nearly as many lifeless ARFs

OK, I give. What's an "ARF"? If it's "Anti-RimFire" I'm going on the warpath.

Animal Rights Freak/Fanatic/Farkwad...

[Old Ironsights]

...Wait till the Wolfs start going into the City's. What will the Shepeople do then

Hell, they about had a nervous breakdown when a hot and tired Coyote stopped by a downtown sub shop for a cold beverage and sandwich last summer.

Critter was smarter than the melting zombies... he climbed into the drinks cooler and laid down to people watch.

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/coyot ... 36307.html

[Lefty Dude]

We have Yote's in the back yard every day chasing rabbits. Came home one day and five were high-tailing it out as we drove in.

I can take the Yote's, its those sneekie coon tailed Rattlers that can get my Blood pressue up a 100 points.

May be we should deliver some Western Diamondbacks and drop them in the middle of liberal town.

They got Yote's, now Cougars, and hell why not complete the Western experience for the Sheepeople.

[Old Time Hunter]

Here's that little tomcat in Wisconsin awhile back....most likey that same kitty in Chicago:

[Old Ironsights]

We have Yote's in the back yard every day chasing rabbits. Came home one day and five were high-tailing it out as we drove in.

I can take the Yote's, its those sneekie coon tailed Rattlers that can get my Blood pressue up a 100 points.

May be we should deliver some Western Diamondbacks and drop them in the middle of liberal town.

They got Yote's, now Cougars, and hell why not complete the Western experience for the Sheepeople.

Ya know, that's just the thing.

Nobody at all would have whined if the PD had blasted a "shy, timid, beautiful creature" like a rattler...

Why oh why must we be faced with such bigotry? Snakes are people too! (especially in Daley plaza)

[blackhawk44]

...and they shot her? Just because she likes younger boyfriends?