Must have been terribly hungry to take on a horse. Plus I imagine the dehydrated horse was in a weakened state and being a domesticated animal, must have seemed to be a viable target for the cougar.<br><br>re: Illinois. They were once indigenous to Illinois where they were also called Pumas [color:green](Puma concolor, Linnaeus, 1771 - a.k.a. Mountain Lion & Catamount)</font color=green>. But they are extirpated from Illinois now, which is a fancy word meaning they don't live in this area anymore. There still is a species of large cat in our state, the Bobcat, more correctly called the Lynx [color:green](Lynx rufus, Schreber, 1777 - a.k.a. Bobcat)</font color=green>. But it's on our state-threatened list.<br>