Cougar Sightings and Earthquake in Chicago

[Hanson784 165]

The Windy City turned into the Shaky City this morning as a 5.2 earthquake centered in West Salem, IL (about 200 miles south of Chicago) shook the entire area.

People felt it as far away as Atlanta. Building inspectors are being sent to check out downtown skyscrapers, construction sites and the CTA is checking El track supports. Aftershocks are expected to shake the area all day. You can see some news coverage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94H-t0jX0tA.

Another big top story of the week is a Cougar, which was spotted all over the Northern suburbs last month, ended up on the North Side of Chicago on Monday and was shot and killed by Chicago Police.

It is possible the animal could have traveled hundreds of miles from South Dakota- with other Cougars. More Cougar sightings were reported this morning in the north burbs. Cougars haven't been spotted in Chicago since the 1890's.

Wild (and weird) news this week for Chicago.

[Meg 368]

Cougars in Chicago.    That is way a long way for them to wander.

The western suburbs of Washington, DC are expanding into mountains so there have been bears in people's backyards.  But that is the houses going into the bears' territory.  Chicago hasn't been cougar territory for quite a while.

I hope the aftershocks aren't too severe.   I don't think of Illinois as earthquake territory but apparently there is a fault line there.

[Hanson784 165]

It is a long way for them to travel and it's strange to think it would head from a less dense area into a very densely populated area.

Some experts think they're migrating east away from their natural areas due to urban sprawl. Maybe they're relocating due to climate change?

I heard they can adapt to almost any area, the cougar that was killed Monday lived in the suburbs without being spotted very much and slipped into the city limits almost unnoticed. Maybe the earthquake will scare them away. lol

There's mild earthquakes in Illinois every twenty years or so, nothing too big. Although, in 1812 there an 8.0 earthquake that erupted on the New Madrid fault line near St. Louis that reportedly rang the bells in Philadelphia, leveled frontier towns and changed the course of the Mississippi River. It is one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. Scary stuff.

[Godzillaman 21]

People in highrises in Toronto said they felt the quake...but you say Atlanta felt them...that's even farther...

[blade2k5 1,523]

Actually, there were 3 massive quakes in New Madrid in 1811-1812. The first was Dec 16 1811, the second followed in Jan 1812 and the third was in Feb 1812 and estimated magnitudes ranged from 7.9-8.3. There seems to have been a lot of EQ activity in the region the past few years which makes me wonder if the New Madrid fault is going to go off again. If seismologists have gotten it right, this fault produces massive quakes every 150-200 years which means it's overdue. But then again, who really knows for sure?

[sturmgewehr 0]

I'm in the western suburbs of Chicago and at 4:30 in the morning as I started to fire up my work laptop my monitors started shaking. At first I just thought I needed to go back to bed or I was crazy...

[Frankie_Grove 32]

The New Madrid fault zone has several minor faults that fan out quite a ways. The massive earthquake that leveled Charleston, SC in 1865 was believed to be related to the New Madrid zone. A number of days(?) before the 1811-1812 quakes there were several smaller quakes within a couple hundred miles of the epicenter.

As for the cougars...I guess that is a big deal for the Chicago area. Here in the Carolinas we call them 'Panthers' (plus ours are black).

[Blazerhawk 162]

I'm not surprised by the quake. I love to study geology, and the reason that quake was felt so far away is the Midwest has almost no faults. Thus, there is nothing to absorb the ground motion other than the compression of rocks.

[threeswept 12]

Originally posted by: Hanson784 The Windy City turned into the Shaky City this morning as a 5.2 earthquake centered in West Salem, IL (about 200 miles south of Chicago) shook the entire area. quote>

5.2...right, that's a foot massage for us out west.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: threeswept

5.2...right, that's a foot massage for us out west. quote>

It all depends on what you are used to.  I know people in California that just chuckle at these "foot massages" but totally freak out at a thunderstorm.  Around here, people know that thunderstorms require some precautions but are nothing to spaz out about.  (otherwise we'd spend too much time spazzing out  )

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

My 'sources' in the Chicago area are buzzing about all of this. Being a NW transplant from Chicago, I experienced my first quake in 2001 (the Nisqually quake) and one was enough. The small ones are pretty common here, but I can guarantee this one rattled some Midwesterners not used to it.

The cougar doesn't surprise me, there's more wildlife in the area than many realize. There are natural 'highways' into the heart of the city, like the Chicago and River greenway and the Des Plaines on the west. I have seen all manner of wildlife in both city and the 'burbs, including hawks, falcons, and foxes.

[Nerd_Guy 4]

We got the brunt of the quake down by Springfield, at least, more than Chicago did.  Aftershocks have been hitting us all day.  It's not much for you Westerners, but I love it!

[Jillybean86 38]

Cougars in suburban Chicago? That isn't new...every suburb has them...my mom is one...ahahaha!

But really, Cougars, Panthers, Mountain Lions, Pumas...they're the same animal, and they're everywhere. I don't know what the talk of "a long way for them to travel" comes from. I don't know about Illinois, but here in Minnesota and Wisconsin, there is still plenty of relatively unspoiled woods. Chances are, this cougar didn't travel too far.

[un1 41]

In Thunder Bay, Ontario it was very quiet, nothing happened to us. Nice plesureable (is that even a word???) morning... There has been cougar tracks on the Sibley Penisula quite often... Cougars may live 6 hours north of Minneapolis or 14 h from Toronto...

[zakuten 8]

Yeah, I live in Bloomington IL, and go to a small university. Here, the big news was the earthquake made a few storm windows fall off around campus.

[jglei701 8]

This was the first time a cougar was spotted in Chicago for something like 130 years... I've been following this pretty closely, especially with the second cougar spotted in the Northern suburbs, as I'm moving there in a month an a half!

The earthquake buzz was wild... my parents near Chicago didn't feel any of them, but my other relatives in Springfield certainly did! It's been about 40 years since an earthquake has been felt in Chi-town, or so the reports stated.

[stylinmartyr 0]

I was gonna say... we have cougars at work! And they're on the prowl. Nothing like having 45 year old single women wearing thongs. *shakes head*

[Hanson784 165]

Godzillaman, yep my relative in Atlanta called to ask if we felt it. I didn't feel anything but woke up to the sound of something rattling outside. I was half asleep so I thought it was an animal getting into the garbage cans. I feel like I'm in California with all this coverage about the earthquake and talk of fault lines.

Do they even report on 5.2 quakes out there?

[bakercity 270]

I live in extreme southeastern part of Wisconsin and when Milwaukee reported feeling tremors, for sure we did too. I woke up around the time of the quake and did not realized what happened until 7am Central time. I think that we all need to be aware of the New Madrid Fault Zone. On another note, a cougar paw prints were/are being reported in Southeastern Wisconsin in areas in and/or around Milwaukee region. A Cicago cop shot and killed a cougar on the northside of Chicago. JKB

[Nerd_Guy 4]

Minor damage from the quake in my area, even though it was still a large one IMO.

My friend was hit on the head by a falling two liter bottle of soda, and a few students playing football in PE fell over in one of the aftershocks we felt.

[____----____ 37]

i slept right throught the "quake" as for the cougar i'm pretty sure Jill Jacobs mom isn't a big threat.

In all seriousness pretty cool that it made it all the way into roscoe village, pretty far into the city, anyone remember the coyote in the subway in the loop a month or two ago, wild animals invading chitown!  Regardless cougars used to live all over the east and were killed off, no reason why they shouldn't reclaim their territory.

[autoVino 26]

felt that quake a little bit down more south, at about 5:30.  Wasn't too bad but woke me up an hour early nonetheless...

[Hanson784 165]

aleking, Really? The urban jungle is now taking on a literal meaning. Wonder how I missed that one?

Edit: just found the story online here. The Coyote strolled into a Quizno's sandwich shop- walking along the crowded sidewalks of the Loop during mid afternoon rush. People must have thought it was a stray dog.

What's next? Deer running down Park Avenue like in the movie I Am Legend?

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: stylinmartyr I was gonna say... we have cougars at work! And they're on the prowl. Nothing like having 45 year old single women wearing thongs. *shakes head*quote>

 

not those kind of cougers....

[Odainsaker 2,136]

Similarly uncommon was the tiny 3.7 magnitude earthquake South Texas had about two weeks ago on April 7. Centered only 45 miles south of the city of San Antonio, it was supposedly strong enough to be felt in morning hours in the southern parts of the city, but, unfortunately, I am in the northern rocky hills and probably slept right through it. Even less impressive than a foot massage, but then we get more snow in South Texas than we do earthquakes, and truth be told we almost never get snow these days. Though far from Illinois, I wonder if there is some significantly broad geological adjustment that ties together both small quakes in middle America.

Wild cougars and alligators are certainly to be found in our rural areas. However, I wonder if any Chupacabras have been spotted nearby lately, hehe. This reptilian "Latino Bigfoot" is supposed to suck the blood of local livestock, though it now mostly haunts the souvenir shops of pop-culture fads. Coyotes disfigured with mange so severe as to make them resemble hairless giant rats or kangaroo monsters have been feeding the scare of people here in the past few years.

[Micah 16]

Earthquakes occur about everywhere in the United States. An earthquake near Chicago doesn't seem that odd to me, actually. Isn't the Saint Louis area a hot bed for earthquakes? I guess this could simply be a branch of that hot spot.

[Mickdog 0]

Micah, I refer you to this concerning your comment of a "branch of that hot spot". 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/18/illinois.earthquake/

[Micah 16]

Okay. The article basically said it's pretty typical. Are you talking about the location or...? You didn't really specify what you were trying to say.

[Mickdog 0]

You ought to be running for some office! Read the article, learn! Jeepers!

[IDS2 3,396]

I've seen deer and fox around here...before the road of course, but even so they're all about.