I drive through this area frequently. There is a huge County Forest Preserve in the area, Busse Woods. It is connected to a huge web of other Forest Preserves, local parks, and a long series of rivers and lakes. There is, in fact, a size able herd of Elk in this area.
I imagine those will be on the kitty menu soon.
Yeah, but Busse Woods isn’t connected straight through to all of the other forest preserves. AND, it’s not THAT large of an area. The Elk herd doesn’t roam free - it’s in an enclosure on the grounds.
As for a long series of rivers and lakes — it’s NOTHING like that! Maybe you’re thinking the area by Chain O’Lakes on the Fox River (which is many miles to the North and a little East)? Or perhaps the Des Plaines River which runs about 20 miles east of Busse Woods? The forest preserves that border the DP River are not very large at all, and they are frequented by too many people to have an animal like this roaming through the forests without attracting a LOT of attention... And, none of these towns border either the Fox River, or the Des Plaines River. Plus, to get to the rivers, or in between the forest preserves you’d have to go through large urban/suburban areas. Don’t get me wrong - it’s not like there isn’t any “green” left, but it doesn’t all hook up together nice and easy to provide a vast amount of land for a cougar to live off of. And, people in Elk Grove would definitely notice if the herd was thinning as well.
I grew up in the area, and trust me, cougars are NOT something that should be around there naturally at this point. And the one seen in Winnetka? I can’t even fathom that...