DuPage officials investigate cougar sightings

Sharon Cote was letting her dogs out to do their business Easter morning when something unusual caught her eye.

Living on a wooded lot near Salt Creek in Wood Dale, Cote is used to seeing all kinds of wildlife roam through her yard. But this was the first time she'd ever seen a cougar.

"It was like something that belonged in a zoo," she said. "It was ambling from my neighbor's yard into my yard and it got about 30 feet before I pulled up the dogs and ran."

Realizing she's not supposed to see cougars, she hesitated to alert anyone.

"My daughter talked me into it because it was Easter and there would be people out in their yards," she said. "When the 911 lady said there'd been other calls I figured I wasn't the only nut calling in."

Wood Dale Deputy Police Chief Greg Vesta said he went to Cote's home to investigate the report, but didn't find any evidence of the big cat. However, since Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Chicago police gunning down a wild cougar in a north side neighborhood, he's not taking any chances.

"We're putting out to our residents that someone saw something resembling a cougar, but we haven't recovered any evidence," he said. "It's better to be safe than sorry, but it's important to stress there's nothing to confirm there was a cougar in town."

Morton Arboretum officials in Lisle are taking that tack as well by installing a camera on the property near the junction between I-355 and I-88, where a woman reported seeing another roaming cougar last week.

"We questioned her, and her description of the animal didn't match the characteristics of a cougar," said Arboretum spokeswoman Gina Tedesco. "We're just going to set up the camera and see what we get."

The motion-sensitive camera has been operating since Thursday and so far no cougars have been filmed, she said.

Calls to DuPage County Forest Preserve officials have increased in the year since the cougar was found in Chicago, but evidence of cougars in any of the county's forest preserves is scant, said wildlife manager Dan Thompson.

"Our hardest issue is someone can report it, but cougars try to be elusive so there's nothing we can find," he said.

Another issue is that no one is really in charge of cougar control in Illinois. Authorities say if someone spots a cougar and fears for their well-being they should call police, but otherwise they should let the skittish nomadic creatures wander away.

Illinois Department of Natural Resource officials say they receive calls as well, but are limited in their response.

"We have wildlife experts, but no cougar experts," said spokesman Chris McCloud. "Cougars aren't covered under our wildlife code."

Cote was surprised to learn no one was really equipped to handle cougar calls.

"I called a number of places, but nobody could do anything," she said. "I'm scared to death to go into my own yard."