Chicago cougar death still provoking debate

It would appear that the dead cougar in Chicago still has folks riled up. Here's another sampling from the scores of comments we've received at L.A. Unleashed:

OK, so next time our Chicago police officers find another cougar within our city limits, they'll catch it. ...BUT... please do drop them a line ahead of time to tell them where you would like them to ship it for a live re-release in LA. Besides, we've got our hands full with the Cubs.

In the meantime, Timothy J. McNulty, the public editor of the Chicago Tribune, writes about how the story played out in print and on the Web.

For two days, thousands of Web users posted comments, many of them criticizing police for shooting the animal. Others argued that police were right to kill the cougar to prevent the large feline from escaping back into the city streets. A second-day story exploring how the animal possibly made its way from the Black Hills of South Dakota via Wisconsin added even more comments.

The newspaper, McNulty wrote, underplayed the story the first day.

-- Alice Short

Photo: Chicago Tribune

Comments

[Bob]

Once again, the trigger-happy Chicago cops fired a dozen rounds to kill a poor protected animal. The cops that killed the cougar and the police captain should be fired. Animal control should have handled the situation, not the Chicago cops who didn’t have a clue.

[kevin higgins]

I think there was no reason at all for the chicago cops to shoot this protected animal!!! i'm sure they the cops could have kept an eye on it till animal control arrived with a tranqulizer gun or someone from a zoo. I live in ohio and i have seen one here on our farm in 1975 i guess i should have shot it because i thought my family was at danger? my dad called the game warden and he said we was crazy that they are not around here,so we asked if we shot it if he would then beleave us then and he said it was a protected animal and he the game warden would arrest us. go figure it's ok for the cops to

[Red Green]

Back about 1990 when I lived in Natick, MA the Massachusetts Enviormental Police shot a 600 to 700 lbs moose in the center of very populated center of Town on a Sunday afternoon. This town only 15 miles from Boston. They shot it with a Remington 890 12 GA Slut Shotgun twice. They feared if they traquilzed it, the lost moose would take to long for the drug to take effect and get into traffic and cause a fatal accident. Later in the day the local news and press reported it world wide. The Natick Police received all manor of Hate mail, Faxes and Phone calls for the next month from bunny hugger. The Natick Police were not even a part of the decision to put the moose down. In Massachusetts that authority rests with the Enviornmental Police. The mail was from urban dwelling tree hugger idiots like others here who watched to much Grannimal Planet and support the hucksters at PETA and WWF, etc. None of these fools have never been up close and personal with a moose in the Maine woods hunting. I suggest anyone else who thinks 100 to 200 lbs moutain lions are not dangerous read the "Beast in the Garden" by David Baron. Now be verry Quiet, I'm hunting bunny wabbits..."

[Kat]

Personally I think it was wrong of them to shoot it. As mentioned they could have kept the situation under control until Animal Control or a zookeeper came with a tranquilizer. Couldn't they have tried keeping it alive until then? I wouldn't have a problem with it if they HAD tried but the animal, being cornered and therefore more likely to strike out, tried to injure one of the cops or escape and then they shot it. However it seems like they don't have any sort of justifiable reason as to shooting it! I've been hunting plenty of times and seen countless cougar tracks and yet have never had a problem!
Also in regard to the tranquilizer not working on a big moose they are herbivores and being that they are more likely to run away then stay. So why not corner it or chase it into a safer area? Then if it went south they could have shot it. This is just a personal opinion though so don't be offended.

[tom]

I would say shooting it was the right thing to do a cops job is to protect how do you trap a cat thats 5-9 feet long 100-200 pounds that can jump up to 18 feet and run35-45 mph so waiting for some one to show up to tranquilizer is not a likely event these cats are not to be taken lightly