The report was first submitted as a car-deer incident. However, it turned out o be a car-mountain lion incident on I-88 in DeKalb County in Illinois!
Illinois State Police responded to the incident and took possession of the mountain lion that was struck and killed by a car. The animal was delivered to the University of Illinois for a full necropsy and DNA analysis according to wgntv.com.
Mountain lions were native to Illinois. However, they were eliminated from the state prior to the 1870s due to over-harvesting of the animals and loss of habitat.
Sightings of the large predictor cats are rare in the Land of Lincoln although some sightings have been confirmed in the past 20 to 30 years. It is believed that most are young animals that have traveled here from a population in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) receives numerous reports of mountain lion sightings each year. Most turn out to be mistaken identification of feral cats and bobcats according to the IDNR.
IDNR is currently checking into a mountain lion sighting reported in earl October in western Illinois.
By: Buck Stevens
