Looking for love? Mountain lion killed in Kane County was probably searching for a mate, expert says
Two days after a mountain lion was struck and killed by a car on Interstate 88 in Kane County, many are left wondering what it was doing there.
Illinois State Police troopers found the dead animal Sunday night while responding to a call about a car hitting a deer near Dauberman Road in Kaneville Township.
Chris Anchor, a wildlife biologist with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, said the big cat was probably a young male looking to start his own family.
Anchor said the mountain lion population in the Black Hills of South Dakota is growing and only a small number of males are tolerated. Younger males get pushed out by older ones to find unoccupied territory and mates.
"They don't find either," Anchor said. "So they just keep wandering. As long as we don't have females, these males aren't going to stick around."
About four years ago, one cat made it as far as Connecticut before being killed on a road.
Anchor said biologists were able to track its progress through Wisconsin and Michigan from photos on trail cameras that showed its distinctive spots. They lost it for a few months before it turned up on the East Coast.
"It's amazing what they're able to do and how far they're actually able to move without being detected," Anchor said.
Anchor said that based on the pictures circulating online of the Kane County mountain lion, it would appear to be a 2- to 3-year-old male, which would fit with the paradigm in South Dakota. Biologists will be able to confirm its back story after completing a DNA analysis.
Officials from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources have confirmed multiple sightings of mountain lions in Illinois in the past few years. IDNR officials believe the animal killed Sunday night was seen last month on a trail camera in Whiteside County.
The body of the mountain lion is at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for a full necropsy and DNA analysis. In addition to its place of origin, the analysis will provide information about the animal's exploratory movements across the Midwest.
While wild mountain lions are rare in the suburbs, Aurora has had one as a resident at Phillips Park Zoo since 2005.
Tonka, a 17-year-old male, is one of the site's main attractions, zoo manager Dan Powell said.
Powell said he was sad to see an animal like that die.
"It was tragic to see what happened," Powell said. "For how rare they are in this area, to have one come through in a spot where it can actually have an accident like that was unusual and unfortunate. It's like a lightning strike."
While he was quick to point out that he's not an expert in wild cougar activity, Powell said any fears people may have now that they know definitively that a cougar has been in the area are probably overblown.
"We've always had sightings, and it's rare that they have any interaction with us, and it's even more rare that there's a negative impact to people from their presence," he said.
The public can report large carnivore sightings at wildlifeillinois.org/sightings/report/.