(Photo courtesy Valerie Abbott)
Illinois has three confirmed cougar kills in recent years:
15th July 2000: Male cougar killed by a train in Randolph County.
4th December 2004:Â Male cougar found by a bow hunter in New Boston (Mercer County).
14th March 2008: Male cougar shot and killed in Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago (Cook County).
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Links to various articles pertaining to big cats in Illinois.
Alleged Cougar Sightings Busted By IDNR
Cougar sightings catch authorities’ attention
Illinois DNR debunks cougar claim
Phantom Panthers & Big Cats Of Illinois
Wildcat scare keeps Palmyra pupils inside / DNR officials doubt it
Stan: Have been wanting to comment on your discussion of black panthers. When I was growing up my grandfather, who was born in 1884 near Peoria, told me they were a major problem for farmers along the Illinois River. He eventually took over the family farm near Spring Bay, north of Peoria, and said many a night he and his brothers went out hunting them because they were killing their livestock. And he always described them as black panthers. Interesting! Les Hauser
Thanks Les.
During the late 1950s, my grandparents claimed to have seen a black panther on their farm (between Farmington & Yates City).
I believe it.. my friend and I were driving home one night in northern illinois, the town of roscoe coming back from poplar grove and we stopped in the middle of the road to be what looked like a black panther. The eyes shined in the head lights, and it went in the ditch. It started running as we drove to catch up i had realized we were going about 30 mph. At that moment we caught up it had dipped under a fence in someone’s farm house and it was gone.. nobody believes us. But I am sure of what I saw.