Apr 30, 2008 6:34 am US/Central
Resident Reports Another Cougar Wandering City
Latest Sighting Near Lawrence, California Avenues
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Just weeks after police shot and killed a cougar that had somehow made its way to the city's North Side, another cougar has reportedly been spotted only about 2 1/2 miles away.
As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the latest sighting was reported to police by a 911 call from an anonymous resident who claimed to see a cougar near the intersection of California and Lawrence avenues at 3:15 a.m.
The caller said the cougar was headed eastbound from the intersection, which is just east of the North Branch of the Chicago River between the Lincoln Square and Albany Park neighborhoods.
Two and a half miles southeast on April 14, in the 3400 block of North Hoyne Avenue in the Roscoe Village neighborhood, a 2-year-old, 122-pound juvenile male cougar leapt a fence and ran into a gangway between two houses. Officials from a nearby school called police after spotting it.
Ultimately, the cougar was cornered and shot dead by police after officers were reportedly charged.
DNA testing determined the cougar was definitely a wild animal, rather than an exotic pet that got loose.
There were additional sightings in elsewhere in the city, as well as in Gurnee, North Chicago and Wilmette, leading some to conclude there were one or several cougars migrating along the Chicago River.
A cougar sighting was also reported in southwest suburban Stickney, and near Lake Cook Road in the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe.
The cleaned bones and tanned hide of the cougar that was shot dead by police in Roscoe Village will be stored at the Field Museum near a puma obtained in 1955 and the skin of a Florida panther from 1895. While museum officials say there are currently no plans to put the animal's remains on public display, the cougar's bones and hide will be slotted away for future research.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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