Barrington Hills Police Department has alerted residents of a possible Cougar sighting by a citizen after a reported sighting about 10:00 a.m. Friday, September 7, 2012 in the area of Oak Knoll and Old Hart Roads.
Barrington Hills police responded to the area, which is just northwest of Barrington High School, and were unable to confirm the sighting. The Barrington Hills Police Department has advised the Illinois Department of Natural Resources of this possible sighting, is continuing to monitor the situation, and is encouraging residents to be aware of the situation.
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Satellite view near Old Hart Road and Old Knoll Road.
Cougar sighting — some confirmed and some unconfirmed — have occurred over the past five years in Chicagoland.
VIDEO of animal tracks discovered on the north side of Arlington Heights on Monday, February 27, 2012 showing a large pawprint that is wider than long in a ‘direct register’ gait with long stride (Some experts have said these print appear to be paw prints from a large dog).
Cougar sightings were reported in Lake Forest in October 2011, and a stray cougar was shot in Chicago in 2008. The video (above) shows animal tracks that were discovered Monday, February 27, 2012 about 2:00 p.m. The stride of the tracks measures a distance of over three feet. According to A Field Guide to Mammal Tracking in Western America (page 45), the stride of a mountain lion is 40 inches. The tracks might have been double tracks representing the animal’s forefoot and hindfoot strike into the snow in approximately the same area. This gives the look of one huge pawprint. Cougars are known to walk with their hind feet directly landing inside where their front feet landed. The gait is called direct register, and is especially used by cougars when moving in deep snow. However, dogs are also known to move in a direct register gait.
The length of the pawprint or pawprints area was about 4-5 inches front-to-back and almost eight inches wide. Mountain lions and cougars are known to have paw prints that are wider than their length, or more round than egg-shaped like a coyote or dog. What’s remarkable about the tracks is how large the animal must have been to have a stride of over three feet without being in a run or gallop.
The stride is too long for a fox (which is only about 10 inches), and the tracks don’t look like the shape that comes from a coyote. The roundness of the pawprint and the size are consistent with a cougar, mountain lion or very large dog. The pawprint also appears to have the large, possibly three-lobed heel pad that is characteristic of a cougar.
Cougar photographed by an employee of the United State Department of Agriculture.
Coyote or dog tracks with the combined forefoot/hindfoot impression in the stride.
Apparent cougar tracks in Sunshine Canyon in Colorado.
More clearly defined cougar tracks in Colorado.
Cougars are also known as mountain lions, and are mammals that are members of the family Flidae — native to the Americas. Cougars are similar to house cats, but are about the size of adult humans. Primary food sources of cougars include deer, elk, moose, and bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horses and sheep. Cougars will also eat rodents. Cougars are solitary, reclusive cats and usually avoid people, but attacks on humans have been known to occur. Cougars may travel several miles to avoid aggressive territorial male cougars.
On Tuesday February 8, 2012 Mount Prospect police received a single report of a large cat — not a normal house cat — near Elmhurst Road and Dempster Road.
In October 2011 there were several sightings of a cougar or mountain lion in the Conway Farms subdivision of Lake Forest, just east of Chicago Bears headquarters, Halas Hall. Some reports of suspicious tracks in the mud have also been reported in the Lake Forest area.
On April 14, 2008 Chicago police shot and killed a cougar on the north side of Chicago in the Roscoe Village neighborhood less than one mile west of Wrigleyville. DNA tests were consistent with cougars from the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Check out the images from Google searches linked below, and tell us what you think below in the comments section.
Google image search for ‘coyote tracks’ …
Google image search for ‘fox tracks’ …
Google image search for ‘fox tracks’ …
Google image search for ‘mountain lion tracks’ …
Cougar and tracks in captivity.
Tracks at 1:29.
Missouri Department of Conservation Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer discusses the markings on the paw of a sedated Mountain lion. This male cougar was released at Current River Conservation Area after it was mistakenly live trapped by a Centerville, Mo., trapper. It weighed 122 pounds and was estimated to be two years old.
See also …
Village of Barrington Hills Police Department Past Alerts …
Cougar Shot in Chicago Roscoe Village Neighborhood Near Hamilton, Hoyne and Roscoe (MAP LOCATION)
Cougar? Mountain Lion? Large Cat Reported Near Elmhurst and Dempster, Mount Prospect
Alderleaf Wilderness College Mountain Lion Tracks and Sign An Online Guide
Info on gait and gallop, animals walking, running …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gait
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