Cougar Killed In Roscoe Village

By Margaret Lyons in News on Apr 15, 2008 3:08PM

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!