A mountain lion was struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 88 in DeKalb County, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced Monday.
The animal was taken by the Illinois State Police to an Illinois Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist. From there, the mountain lion was delivered to the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana for a necropsy and DNA analysis.
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IDNR experts believe the animal was the same mountain lion that was captured on a trail camera on private property in Whiteside County in late September. The belief was confirmed by wildlife biologists from IDNR and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The collision occurred Sunday on the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway; it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone in the car was injured.
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Mountain lions are “extremely rare” in Illinois, the state agency says, though they have occasionally been spotted in recent decades. The state agency said it receives numerous reports of mountain lion sightings each year, but many turn out to be bobcats or other animals or there’s not enough information to confirm the report.
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Mountain lions, which are also called cougars or pumas, have been protected in Illinois since 2015, and it’s illegal to hunt, kill or “harass” these animals “until they pose an imminent threat to a person or property,” the IDNR said, adding such occurrences are rare.
In the event a person is approached by a mountain lion, it is recommenced by IDNR not to run but to wave your arms, throw stones at the animal and yell, and slowly back away.
IDNR is on the watch for another mountain lion spotted in western Illinois earlier this month. The animal has a GPS collar that was originally attached in November 2021 by researchers with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission studying that state’s mountain lion population and movement patterns.
The NGPC reported the mountain lion that the mountain lion being tracked recently trekked eastward across Iowa and into Illinois.
IDNR will continue to monitor closely and will work to mitigate threats to public safety and property.
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tatturner@chicagotribune.com
