Illinois Cougar Watch

Hi,

In July, 2001 my husband, two teenage children and I saw a mountain lion behind Leprechuan Landing (LL) outside of Wolf Creek State Park on Shelbyville Lake (about 3-4 miles from Findlay).  We were returning our camper to our storage area in the field behind LL when we saw a very large (about 150 lbs.), tawny cat rolling on it’s back in a pile of dirt at the back end of the neighbors property.  We were approximately 100′ from it.  We watched it for a few minutes trying to decide what it was.  My husband wondered it if was a bobcat, and I said no, it had a long tail.  I remember commenting that it looked kind of like a female lion.  The large cat finally noticed us watching her, she got up and strolled to some tall unmowed grass that was growing on the back half of the neighbors property.  Once in the grass she dropped down low and continued through the grass towards the middle of the yard coming towards us.  We could see her sillouhette in the grass as she moved.  

When she got to the end of the tall grass, she stood up and walked across the mowed backyard and went behind a pole barn that was less than 30′ from us.  At that point we lost site of her.  We decided we should probably get in our van for safety.  

We drove through the storage lot parallel to the pole barn, and when we passed the front of the barn (about 30 seconds later), we were very surprised to see another cat that looked like the first one but about half the size, come running out and skitter behind the barn also.  It was a cub.  So now we had a large tawny cat with cub.  We still did not know what it was, so we asked Larry Bodine who owned LL at that time if he or the  neighbors had a very large cat, and he was absolutely amazed at what we told him.  

The next weekend, the barn was shut, and the grass was mowed down.  We watched that cat for about 10 minutes, we didn’t know what it was, but we were positive it was not a house cat, a dog, deer or bobcat.

When we got home, we saw the news report about the male mountain lion getting hit by the train in Randolph county, and we were very shocked and frightened to discover that what we had seen was a mountain lion.  The next day I called the DNR in Springfield, and you would have thought I was reporting a UFO.  He tried to tell me that it was probably a released pet. They had no interest in our sighting.  Larry Bodine said they did finally come out to investigate about a month later, but it had rained since then, and I’m sure there were no tracks or evidence left.

We looked at the map and the Kaskaskia River connects Shelbyville Lake to the area where the male lion was killed in Vandalia.  It’s only about 75 miles away with a direct river route.  So, now we have a male that was killed, and a female with a cub 75 miles north.  Don’t bother telling me there are no mountain lions in Illinois and especially that they are not breeding.  I know better!!!!  About 6 months later, Larry Bodine told us someone else saw the mountain lion when it ran across the road in front of their truck not too far from where we saw it.

I wonder why the DNR would not have any interest in finding a roaming mountain lion, even if they thought it might be a released pet.  Wouldn’t that be rather dangerous to leave one roaming around a campground area with lots of hiking trails in the forest and kids running around?

I personally do not believe this mountain lion was a released pet.  She was very wary of us, and was very intent on getting to her cub that was only a few feet away.  If it were not for her cub in the barn, she would probably have just headed toward the woods, not towards the center of the yard to just a few feet from us.

Oh, by the way, I no longer hike any of the forest trails in the area either.

Beth Creek
St. Joseph, IL