Cougar Spotted In Illinois Fatally Shot By Officer (PHOTO)

LOOK: Rare Cougar Spotted In Illinois Fatally Shot By Officer

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is investigating after a cougar was spotted and killed on a northwest Illinois farm about 130 miles west of Chicago.

The IDNR said a conservation police officer was called to a farm in Morrison, Ill. Wednesday around 2 p.m. after property owners spotted the large cat running from a corn field and toward a farmhouse, NBC 6 reports.

The property owner requested the animal be euthanized, according to NBC, and after consulting with IDNR officials and wildlife personnel, the cougar was shot with a rifle.

Before it was put down, the cougar was found hiding in a concrete tunnel under a corn crib. Wildlife biologists will perform a necropsy on the cougar, but officials initially believe the cougar weighed more than 100 pounds and was nearly 6 feet long.

cougar
The cougar was shot and killed on a farm in Morrison, Ill., -- about 130 miles west of Chicago -- on Wednesday.

The last time a cougar was confirmed spotted in Illinois was in 2008 when the Tribune reports a male cougar was shot and killed on Chicago's North Side.

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