There are several environmental laws in place to protect the wildlife of Illinois, the recent population of cougars in Illinois should be no different. Recently, WUIS.org published an article about a cougar that was euthanized at the land owners request where the animal was sighted.  The animal hurt no one and was apparently hiding when he was killed. This is the second sighting of a cougar in central Illinois, the other was in Carlinville Illinois a few weeks ago. It doesn't take an environmentalist or rocket scientist to understand why there should be protective laws for all wildlife in Illinois and every other state. Please follow the link to read the article and sign the petition to help protect Illinois wildlife, whether or not it is indigenous to this area. Migration is a natural part of all life.  The Chicago Tribue has recently posted an article about this atrocity and describes the Illinois Department of Natural Resources comments on the issue:  

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-saving-cougars-edit-1126-20131126,0,6065924.story

http://wuis.org/post/cougar-under-corn-crib-dnr-says-landowners-called-shots?utm_referrer=http%3A//m.wuis.org/%3Futm_referrer%3D%23mobile/13492