Mountain lion spotted roaming in Springfield area
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is warning people in Springfield about a mountain lion roaming the area.
This mountain lion is wearing a GPS collar, and traveled all the way from Nebraska to the Illinois capital city.
Conservation police continue to track the movements of the mountain lion.
Just last week, cameras spotted a mountain lion on a trail camera on private property in Whiteside County in western Illinois.
That mountain lion, or cougar, was later hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 88 in DeKalb County.
Another mountain lion was also spotted earlier this month in western Illinois. It has a GPS collar that was originally attached by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in November of last year as part of an ongoing research project that includes movement patterns.
Mountain lions were eliminated from Illinois before the 1870s due to habitat loss and overharvest. But mountain lions have been spotted in Illinois from time to time throughout the past few decades.
The mountain lions spotted in Illinois today are usually coming from a population in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Memorably, in April 2008, a mountain lion was spotted in Chicago's Roscoe Village neighborhood. The animal was shot and killed by police after charging at officers.