As for actually dealing with these animals if they stumble into one of our large cities. Obviously the police should not be responsible for this task. Their only function in these situations would to keep the public at a safe distance. The only people qualified to deal with these types of animals, other than possibly veterinarians who are too busy running their private practices, are zoo personnel. Most cities have at least one zoo, if not more within their boundaries. They have the most experience when it comes to tranquilizing animals, and should be able to put together some kind of emergency response team for dealing with these situations. Since mountain lions or other large wild animals wandering into residential neighborhoods happens so infrequently, there shouldn’t be much burden for the zoos in handling these sporadic encounters. Plus expenditures for tranq guns and training wouldn’t need to come out of any law enforcement budgets. This would also take care of the monitoring of the animal once it has been sedated, since zoo personnel are also qualified in this area. And even if it takes up to 30 minutes for the animal to be sedated…so what? The first calls on this animal came early in the morning, and the police couldn’t track it down until 6pm. And in all that time no one was killed. 30 minutes of waiting is much better than years in the court system fighting lawsuits.

In the case of this particular mountain lion, Chicago’s Animal Control, would have been of no assistance since it seems by looking at their website, that they are only capable of dealing with dogs, cats, and rabbits. But letting the police shoot almost a dozen rounds to kill a 150lb cat in a residential neighborhood is lunacy. Imagine if one of those bullets had gone through someone’s window and killed them. If you want to see the police get sued then by all means, keep up these kinds of activities, because the odds are that someone will get shot. Cities need to develop emergency response teams in coordination with their local zoos before something like this happens in the future…and it will because the mountain lions are headed east. And with so little mountain lion habitat east of the Mississippi, it will happen sooner rather than later.

This shouldn’t be taken as a don’t kill the animal at all costs plea, obviously if there are no other options available, and the animal can’t be sedated or trapped, then unfortunately these animals have to be removed. But with a population of 300M and counting, the amount of wild space left in this country is quickly diminishing as we try to plaster this country with houses and condos from sea to shining sea. Alternatives have to be found to the ‘kill first’ mentality or these animals with end up in small isolated pockets of wilderness where they will reach genetic dead-ends.

One might argue that open space and lack of contact is the primary reason, and that killing the Mountain Lion in situations where they are forced into direct contact with man is the other reason for this.

I’m sorry folks but all the “poor animal bad humans” talk is really annoying. It doesn’t take ANY of the realities of this situation into account.

Who pays for tranq guns? How often will they get used? Who pays to train the cops to use them? How many of these bloody guns do you think they’ll need? Who will write the rules for the proper use of these weapons? Who will present it to city council for approval? If the money is used for tranq guns it has to come from somewhere. I don’t see any of you volunteering to pay for this so it’s going to been less money for other parts of law enforcement budgets.

And read up on tranqing animals. You don’t just shoot them, they fall asleep, and you’re done. You have to monitor their vital signs VERY closely. Who on the force will get this training? Who will buy the equipment. I mean you are pumping this animal FULL of powerful drugs. This can prove as fatal as a bullet if you don’t handle this as a medical procedure. You’re as “TV ignorant” as the people you’re criticizing because the only tranquilizing you’ve seen is the edited footage on Discovery channel that makes it seem so easy.

And do you know what standard Zoo policy is for handling an escaped large cat? Shoot it. Not with a tranq gun. With a rifle. The animal is pumped up on adrenaline, there is no telling how much chemical to use (no, the little darts aren’t load and shoot…they are a medical device). Too little, you piss it off and it go crazy. Too much, you kill it. On top of that, a proper dose can take up to 30 minutes to take effect!

I’m not even going to go into the “how bad does the police department get sued it a wild cougar kills a citizen while they wait for the zoo to arrive.” SO many factors that you so conveniently gloss over.

It’s really wonderful to have the luxury of sitting backing and shouting “Evil Police Evil Society Evil Humans” without knowing what you are talking about and giving no thought to the full situation.

You know, maybe if you focus your efforts and anger on preserving the habitats where these animals can live safely instead of yelling about this, maybe then it will make a difference. Then you won’t have them pushed into thickly inhabited areas.

Couldn’t of said it better myself. That animal didn’t have to die. Poor thing. Chalk another one up to the all mighty human race! Man I just hate us sometimes!

I know our cops were in a bad situation of dealing with an unusual threat in a nicer neighborhood, but somebody, somewhere, should have had a tranquilizer gun.

It should be no surprise that situations like these always end in the death of the animal. Our trigger happy society says shoot first and ask questions later. Apparently, after they had cornered the animal, they were shocked that the animal turned on them. I guess they were expecting it to turn and play poker with them and when it didn’t break out a deck of cards, they blasted it.

Isn’t it about time the police are trained to ‘dart’ animals in these situations instead of waiting for Animal Control to show up.

And exactly how long does it take to get a response from Animal Control in Chicago. Is the city so flooded with cougars that they couldn’t get someone to this neigborhood before 6pm. Letting the police fire off ten rounds to kill a cat, put the residents more in danger than the animal did.

Wake up Chicago…before this happens again.

And sorry Endroren…but exactly how many people have been killed by cougars in the US in the past 50 years. We are not a typical meal for these animals.

Mountain Lion vs Man = Dead Mountain Lion

Are there better ways to handle wild carnivores that wander into human occupied areas? Yes…but I doubt it will surprise you to know that this isn’t something the folks in Chicago deal with a lot. Do you really think these guys were trained for this? Do you think it is even worth tax payer money to train them for this sort of scenario? The city and its suburbs have plenty of other problems that come up far more often than Cougar wrangling.

And do you think they hadn’t called Animal Control? I’m sure they had, but they FINALLY found this thing that had been roaming around and they didn’t want to lose it before Animal Control go there.

And do you think the neighbors would have said “No no…take your time and just watch it. Sure, it might get away, but we’d rather have a frightened hungry cougar running around our yards and our kids than have you shoot it.” What did you expect the cops to do?

I love wildlife. I want to preserve wildlife. But you can’t take a situation like this, with all the many factors that lead up to it and factor into it, and blanket it with a “Gang Mentality Brutal Cops Shoot Wonderful Beautiful Peaceful Creature.”

Next time they spot a cougar we’ll have them call you and you can hug it and pet it until animal control arrives.