Well it looks like we do have cougars in Illinois after all.

http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x2053818777/Morgan-County-cougar-could-have-wandered-from-Wisconsin

This has become a common report with all the game cameras flooding the woods of Illinois around deer season.. I bet theye always moved through here now they are just "caught on camera" easier.. Maybe they'll knock back our coyote population

Jason one made it all the way to my sisters in CT this past year.It got hit by a car,they thought it may have escaped from somewhere but it's dna allowed them to track it to where it came from out west,though i forget where.

I heard that males keep on travelling after getting kicked out by Mom until they find a mate. Then they set up shop in that area.

http://www.livescience.com/15307-record-breaking-cougar-trend-wildlife.html

Missouri Wildlife Dept denied cougars were established again in missouri for years...estimated now in the mid 100's in population here now and growing throughout the state...

This behavior is common with many large carnivores. Black bears are much the same way. Momma gives both male black bears and mountain lions the boot when they near maturity. It is nature's way of ensuring the gene pool is spread around the inbreeding is limited. These young males then head off to find new territory to call home. Sometimes they set up shop in already established bear or mountain lion country. Sometimes they get a little "lost" and end up in areas where mountain lions or black bears are not found. Finding a male black bear or mountain lion in an area doesn't mean you have an established population. When you find a female, then you know they are established.

Most of the mountain lions found in the east are escaped/released pets. When DNA testing is done on them, they come with with South American genetics as that is where the vast majority of pet mountain lions originate from.

The counties in VA I live and work in do not have black bears, but occasionally we'll get one showing up. They are always young males who got the boot, usually in the spring and are looking for a new home and got lost. Mountain lions do much the same thing, but instead of it being a county or two away from their normal home range, it can be a state or two.

Travis,

What's the survival rate of these pet cougar's that are released?

That sounds about like a fair amount of humans too!

MDNR denies the existence of breeding Cougars in Michigan, yet they post this: Cougars

Some state parks now have instructions on what to do if you encounter a Cougar.

There has been a resident Cougar up by my place in Fremont for several years now. Many sightings, videos and pictures. Several attacks on pet's, and one on a horse. (confirmed by a vet)

I suspect that some of the stories are just that, stories, but not all.

I won't walk out back unless carrying a side arm. Never know, and from what I have heard, people taste like pork! The other white meat

A cougar is the same thing as a mountain lion?

Yep!

I spilled coffee all over myself one morning.

Got out of my camper, flicked the lights on and off for good measure to establish a path to my truck in the dark.

Something jumped out of a near by tree, and my brain quickly determined that it was not a squirrel

Don't know what it was, but when it hit the ground, it broke branches!

Safely in my truck, with the door locked, I realized, what was in my coffee cup was pretty much all over me.

Less than a 50 foot dash to change cloths, but thought surviving embarrassment at work was the best choice for the moment

Two more sightings.


http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1783172869/2-more-cougar-sightings-confirmed-in-central-Illinois