Southern Illinois Residents Spot Possible Signs of a Cougar

There are several eyewitnesses in a small southern Illinois community who are seeing compelling signs that there's a cougar on the loose in the woods there.

I had a report from Kay Comer come up in my Facebook feed this weekend. Here's a small snippet of Kay's exact words about what she and neighbors in the Round Knob, Illinois area are seeing:

"ROUND KNOB AREA - COUGAR WARNING
We have just been told by a neighbor who will remain anonymous - that a deer carcass has been found hanging in a tree on his property...about 3 weeks ago I posted after church on Sunday night that I was coming home in the dark and I thought that was a ''young'' cougar that ran across the road in front of me"

Here's a map showing where the community of Round, Knob, Illinois is located:

Google Maps Satellite View

Later, Kay added an additional cougar update:

"Our neighbor has been seeing fresh tracks and signs daily since last Wednesday around their property - the deer carcass was found Wednesday and it had been moved and was mostly devoured when they checked on Friday"

The post mentions that only a mountain lion that is 3 years old or older is strong enough to drag a deer carcass up a tree. While the Illinois Department of Natural Resources says that mountain lions do not have a native habitat in the state, lone cats are known to travel across southern Illinois on occasion.