Cougar Killed on Chicago Street

The first cougar spotted in Chicago since the city's 19th-century founding ran loose around the Windy City over the weekend only to be shot dead last night in a North Side neighborhood by police officers who feared it was going to attack them, the Chicago Tribune reports. As the police chief puts it: "There was no way to take it into custody."

Sightings of the 150-pound mountain lion's whereabouts came pouring in Saturday when it first turned up 15 miles away in the suburb of Wilmette. Bounding over six-foot fences "like nothing," the tan 5-foot-long cougar may have made its way into the city via the Metra rail route. (More animal stories.)