April 15, 2008
Cougar Killed In Roscoe Village
Police shot and killed a 150-pound cougar in Roscoe Village last night. No one really knows how it got to the North Side, or if it's a wild cougar or an escaped pet. (You're not supposed to have pet cougars, BTW.)
Residents had seen the big cat in the neighborhood throughout the afternoon yesterday before police tracked it down around 5:30 on Hoyne and Roscoe and killed it. Some residents report hearing 8 or 10 gunshots.
From NBC:
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to get all of the citizens off the street in time," said Cmdr. John Kenney of the Chicago Police Department. "When the animal charged the officers, they had no choice but to defend themselves."
The cougar, RIP, appeared to be healthy and well fed, and it's not clear if it's the same cougar that was in Wilmette yesterday. Crazy. After the jump, two jokes we couldn't resist. [ABC 7, S-T, Fox (video), NBC 5 (video), Trib, photo of a different cougar by ucumari]
A cougar was killed in Roscoe Village yesterday, miles away from its natural habitat of Schaumburg. Rimshot!
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Tranquilizer darts? The Chicago Blue love getting their guns off.
Before the jump: Aww :(
After the jump: Heh.
There was also a bank robbery a few blocks away on the 3400 block of western yesterday. Busy day for the quiet neighborhood.
roscoe village is so ghetto now that the cougars have moved in
If only that cougar had made it to Rush Street, this whole tragedy could have been averted...
Too bad for the cat, though. It always irritates me when they kill these animals instead of capturing them.
Not to inflame tempers, but how exactly are untrained police officers supposed to safely subdue a cougar? It's a shame, but I don't really think there's much blame to be had.
I agree Oz115, this creature far more magestic than most of us
you need to shoot this thing immediately with whatever you have on you. this was a residential neighborhood, they couldn't wait for a tranquiizer gun to show up
UTV: Agreed. But if there was enough time to get a bunch of officers to the scene before shooting the animal, perhaps there was enough time to call animal control as well. Animal control had been aware of the situation because people had been calling them all day. It is disappointing that the cougar could not be tranquilized. Bummer.
I wonder if the CPD will pay for the family's AC unit, now that it has some awesome bullet holes in it?
yeah. sad. sorry, cougar.
i guarantee animal control is more inept than the cpd
some of you crack me up - how exactly should the cpd have kept control over this animal while animal control was on its way? i'd love to see the reaction if they hadn't shot it, it got loose, and it killed or harmed somebody.
The last line of that story is fucking brilliant.
While it's of course unfortunate that the cougar had to be killed, it's also true that the cougar had to be killed.
"Child Killed by Cougar While CPD Waits for Animal Control"
That's why they killed it. Imagine that headline. Or your child. Or even just your dog in the back yard. It had been leaping 6-foot fences "with ease" throughout the day. Exactly how was CPD to keep it contained while they waited?
It is a shame, and apparently they'd been tracking it all day and used a "spray of bullets" before they brought it down.
Seems like waiting for animal control would've been better, because this headline would also have been tragic:
"Child Killed by stray bullet from CPD trying to shoot Cougar"
As an animal lover, I find it very sad that they had to put down this beautiful cougar, but also agree that they had no other choice. The thing was able to vault a 6-foot wrought iron fence like it wasn't even there, after all...
Living a mere mile and a half away, I can only imagine if my 50lb pit bull and I had encountered this 150lb cat while out on one of our walks. "Scotty" would have been stupid enough to go after it, and I would have been stupid enough to get in the middle and try to save him...
What a crazy story. My friend called me up yesterday all excited about it. He heard them popping off the gunshots.
I liked the joke, Margaret. Keep them coming.
I would of called Animal Control, knowing they are equipped for such things, but I'm sure the yuppies in slumber didn't know what else to do but call CPD.
In many other pockets of the world, people have to deal with this kind of occurrence on a regular basis. Gives me pause to think how lucky I am to live somewhere where I don't have to worry about nature eating me alive on my way home from a grocery store (muggers don't count).
On the other hand, I am going to assume that this is the same cougar from Wilmette. I think it's just awesome that this animal slinked its way from one end of the city to another before being noticed. Goes to show we're not always on top of the food chain!
Bye-bye buddy.
@15;
You'r right, that would have been a tragic headline but guess what, IT'S NOT the headline this morning!
They did what they needed to do. Waiting for animal control would have been the least practical or responsible thing to do, do you really think the cougar would have just waited around anyway? This thing hadn't been in one spot for more than a few minutes over the last few weeks, otherwise they would have captured it when it was first spotted.
You knuckleheads that wish they didn't shoot it would be the first one's in line to sue the CPD for waiting around and not doing something prior to the cougar slashing some kids face off!
If they were tracking it all day, why wasn't animal control already there?
I was there! - Animal Control was there all day, too - it happened so fast - there were a bunch of little kids out - the cougar came out of one of the yards & ran across the street, lept over a TALL fence, it happened within seconds. The police were yelling to grab your kids & pets & get in inside. The police had no choice. They couldn't contain it in time.
Did they try an appletini? That has always worked on cougars for me in the past.
poor kitty. :(
I will rag on CPD for many things, but really, what would you have done in that situation? Give them a freaking break. It's sad the cat died, but life's often unfair, and this was a situation that presented only a series of dim choices. Unless you think Chicago should revert to wilderness--in which case, why the hell do you live here?--what would you do to ensure resident safety in this situation? Remember, this is a fast-moving and very strong animal in surroundings that likely left it confused, anxious and irritated.
Jaws of Josh: Props for finding way to attach blame to the yuppies for a fucking story about a cougar. When people like you and Spook speak of yuppies, I am reminded of right-wing nuts speaking of terrorists--they lurk around every corner, ready to attack, and are a prime cause for that life apparently sucks now compared to the golden years of yesterday. Really, is it so hard to be so cool and real and down-to-earth, unlike those evil yuppies? No, I'm no yuppie--I hardly earn enough. But for fuck's sake, find a new scapegoat, because the old one is just boring.
Finally, what is wrong about calling CPD--this is a big cat on the loose, a situation perfect for calling 911. Besides, even if the evil yuppie had enjoyed your natural good sense and called animal control as you claim you would have done, that call likely would have been handed off to CPD, as this was something a bit more dangerous and unique than a trapped squirrel.
The one time I called Animal Control about a stray pit bull in my neighborhood, they said that they could be out to take care of it in a week.
A WEEK.
Granted, way different situation than a mountain lion. But still...
ANIMAL CONTROL WAS THERE!!
another pic of the cat on foxnews.com:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351337,00.html
eek!
Matilda: Bravo!
I didn't get the joke at the end. (I guess I am just a square and generally clueless yuppie.)
For others as oblivous to such slang terms as I am, I can now tell you that a "Cougar is a female, usually between thirty and fifty years-old, who enjoys the sexual company of younger men." Now I get the joke...thank God for the internet.
Oh.....Kudos to the cops for taking the cat down before it could harm anyone.
So who do I talk to about getting in on some fine cougar steaks?
I love that this cougar, which was likely scared stupid by all the humans screaming and throwing a fit around it, was clearly out to eat babies according to some of you. And the others think that the cops were sport-hunting the thing.
It's sad they had to shoot it.
Think about that statement.
"It's sad"= It is unfortunate that there isn't a better animal control system in place.
"they had to shoot it"= but as a matter of public safety you cannot have a 150 pound, scared, wild animal prowling around a densely populated area. Human safety trumps animal.
It's sad they had to shoot it.
Now grow the fuck up and stop arguing about it.
Words from Daley: "..Too bad that we didn't have an animal care and control personnel. [They] were en route to the scene. But again you have to make individual decisions. I didn't see a neighbor run out and grab it and say, 'Oh I love you' and bring it in the house. This is unbelievable. I mean, I just, I just. … 'Don't worry about it.' "
Why couldn't you residents from Roscoe Village bring the cougar into your home? C'mon, people! The least you could have done was invited the cougar into your home. Dinner. Drinks. Watch a little Nightly News...Unbelievable.
Kudos to Simple, and I'll just restate: it's sad they had to shoot it.
Now grow the fuck up and stop arguing about it.
Doesn't just about every forum in here devolve into an argument of one sort or another? I mean, that's why we're all here, right?
Poor feller was probably just trying to get to Quizno's.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cougar-shot-webapr16,0,1215541.story
"It's not worth taking any risks," said Clay Nielsen, wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and director of scientific research for the Cougar Network. "Cougar attacks do occur even if they're very, very rare. The bottom line is you never know, and when you have a scared public, sometimes the lethal solution is the best one."
Adrian Wydeven, a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said that dealing with a wild, dangerous animal in a city necessitates different methods than in a rural setting.
"If this was in middle of the Wisconsin North Woods or a heavily forested area, going out and shooting a cougar wouldn't be appropriate," Wydeven said. "But in an urban area, unless they are highly trained in using tranquilizer guns and have everything available, on short notice tranquilization is not always an option."
There. The experts have spoken.
seg43: Not quite.
Spook has yet to weigh in fully about how shooting cougers simply adds to the stupid yuppie power structure of the redeye nation, and how the thousand-year Ming Dynasty revered cougers and how stupid dockers-wearing Chicago breeders could take lessons from the Mings--some of whom still rule, by the way--as well as the Wire and Das Kapital--and how adults who sin by having kids are DIRECTLY responsible for the elimination of couger habitat, and how if we could only drink imported beer and talk about REVOLUTION! we would finally see the couger situation in its real light. As well, the couger likely hated chicago anyway because of the bad buildings and the people who believe in property rights and because defense spending makes up 102% of this year's GDP--and hey, son, don't you know the working class is being crushed, yo, just like on "The Wire?" Spook out, yo. and--don't forget, everyone is racist except I.
Sorry--I am sure I have some typos above, but not nearly enough to imitate the Spookster. I'm not that drunk yet, I guess. Or enlightened.
Tilda, you're just a hater.
Somebody's got a crush on Spook. Watch out Spook she's gonna run up and punch you in the arm and cutely scurry away.
Navin: Don't worry. I have coffee ready to throw. Then again, that requires the Spookster to be on a bike. By the way, did you smoke any racists today, Navin? Keep on keeping on. I am sure the Southern Law Poverty Center appreciates your hard work.
Poor cougar.
It was just trying to get down to Bucktown... you know, where all the cool Cougars chill out.
(Honestly, sad story, but the cops did the right thing.)
I don't wknow what the big deal is. I kill cougars in RV all the time. Usually hunt them at Kaze. Must be the "pack" mentality.
Tilda' as far as me pointing out the curious beliefs of certain users: Don't start none, won't be none and nobody has said anything in these comments that bums me out except for complaining about the cops shooting the cougar which was imho the only option most likely. BTW will you be masturbating to your mental image of Spook tonight or to one of your many autographed photographs of Milton Friedman? Or is Tuesday Kissinger night?
Milton who?
Kissin what?
Sorry, you are way over my head with your assumptive name-dropping.
Not sure if anyone has posted this link yet, but here's a good read from someone who has been through this before in California:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-cougar-shot,1,7787621.story?track=rss
They could have just sent it down to Rush Street where it would have found a nice home.
In retrospect, it probably wasn't a bad decision to shoot the cougar - human life ought to take precedent over animal life.
I was, however, slightly amused when the police spokesman said the officers "had no choice but to defend themselves." I'm pretty sure this is the same line used when the police shoot anybody.
The cops are saying it was self-defense. It was not a bad decision to shoot the cougar. Of course, maybe later the tapes will emerge showing the cougar with its paws up, hindleg shackled to a fence, tranquilized, while the cops are beating it and using it for target practice. Maybe a few drunk cops were on the scene taking a shots, too.
Kidding....
I heard that a group of cougars are planning to march on city hall tomorrow to protest.
I wonder if it escaped from Amazing Animals by Samantha.