From time to time, authorities in Illinois would receive a call from someone claiming to have seen a cougar. These calls were usually ignored. There were no cougars in Illinois – there were no credible reports of cougars here. That being the case, the caller didn’t really see a cougar. He must be mistaken or lying. Either way, there was no reason to take his call seriously. This state of affairs persisted for decades, right up to the time when a full-grown cougar had to be shot by Chicago police in a densely-populated neighborhood of the City. Suddenly, the possibility of cougars in Illinois became more plausible.
![A cougar in the wild.](https://mystae.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Cougar-300x193.png)