West Suburban Bureau

Another Possible Cougar Sighting In Suburbs

STICKNEY, Ill. (CBS) ― A week after Chicago police shot and killed a cougar in the Roscoe Village neighborhood, the possibility of another cougar roaming the western suburbs has people on edge.

As CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports, police have taken reports of people spotting a big cat, but there's no real proof yet.

"We were all kind of freaking out because we were scared it could jump over the fence or something," said softball player Cassie DeLuna.

Her softball team was stopped from playing their game Monday night when a coach reported spotting a cougar at the Cicero Sports Complex in Stickney.

"I was surprised because we've never had anything like that around here but I was glad that they got everybody told everybody to leave right away," said Cassie's mother, Patty DeLuna.

The area is close to the Stickney water reclamation plant where police say strange paw prints were spotted.

A district spokesperson told CBS 2 claims a cougar was seen here are unfounded. But photos of possible prints left behind were delivered to Brookfield Zoo Tuesday.

"I think it's difficult to tell from the pictures, because it's a photo and it's not a clear photo of a paw print so it's hard for me to say," said Stephanie Rhodes of Brookfield Zoo on whether it was, indeed, a cougar that may have been prowling through the area.

And April 12, Mike Romcoe found a similarly strange set of paw prints in his Brookfield backyard, raising his concerns.

Animal experts say it can be very difficult to identify a particular animal from a photo of a paw print.

So far, no one has captured an actual picture of the big cat said to be lurking in Stickney.

This comes on the heels of the April 14 shooting of a cougar on the city's North Side. Police shot the cougar in an alley in the 3400 block of North Hoyne Avenue. The male 2-year-old weighed about 150 pounds and was five feet long, not including its tail, according to Mark Rosenthal of Animal Care and Control.

The cat leapt a fence and ran into a gangway between two houses. The incident occurred just a block away from a grade school. The principal was among those who called police. They were especially concerned because after-school programs were still in session.

Zoologists say don't be alarmed if there are more cougar sightings in the Chicago area, and they're not talking about in a cage at a zoo.

"I don't actually think it's all that surprising," said zoologist Dr. Steve Thompson of the Lincoln Park Zoo. "We have a lot of evidence the population is increasing."

There have been a handful of cougar sightings in the state so far this year.

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