It took more than a day to get to my inbox, but Monday evening's shooting of a mountain lion in the Chicago area is sure to be of interest to many www.rapidcityjournal.com readers.

It sparked a frantic journey Yahoo/Google-fueled journey around cyberspace to try to put the journey into context and anticipate what readers will be looking for next. Here's the abridged version.

1. Black Hills traveler?

The first question we'll be waiting to see is whether the cougar shot in northern Chicago is from the Black Hills. A necropsy has already determined that the cat is from the wild, and the Black Hills is the closest known point where a cluster of big cats resides.

On consecutive days, the Chicago Tribune has covered Monday's cougar shooting extensively. Perhaps the most interesting parts are the reactions, which include one police official saying that there was "no dobut" that lives were saved by shooting the big cat.

A more measured response was offered by Mayor Richard Daley, who offered up a Second City kind of answer to the question on whether the big cat needed to be shot.

"Now, I just want to tell you, if the cougar attacked a child, they'd sue the city because the police officer didn't do their job," Daley said"I didn't see a neighbor run out and grab it and say, 'Oh I love you' and bring it in the house."

However, there were second guessers.

I guess it's safe to say that there are some distinct opinions on cougars and wildlife management in the interface.

2. How far can a big cat travel?

I remember asking myself this question a while back when big cats were reported out as far as Yankton.

The best documented case in recent years is a radio-collared cat that was found dead near train tracks in Oklahoma back in 2004. Officials believe the cougar traveled nearly 700 miles before being struck and killed by a train.

The most amazing part of his journey is that he did it in only nine months.

The Black Hills cougar was about a year old in February of 2003 when it was treed by hounds, tranquilized and fitted with a tracking collar. By September of that year, it had moved 58 miles into Wyoming's edge of the Black Hills. A railroad worker found the big cat's body in Oklahoma in June of 2004.

Officials believe the big cat could have followed river systems to Oklahoma. Its body was found not far from the Arkansas River there.

3. A stop in the cheese state

Some believe that the big cat shot in Illinois is the same one that passed through Wisconsin earlier this year.

Tests there indicated the big cat was likely from the Black Hills. So if it is the same lion, that's one long journey.

Perhaps as interesting as the actual physical evidence of a cougar visit to the cheese state was the media frenzy and subsequent hoaxes that followed. A photo of a big cat peering into a home through a window was quickly dismissed by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as a hoax that was started by a Wyoming dentist having some fun with photoshop.

However, they might not have all been hoaxes. Check out this photo and subsequent article submitted anonymously to a central Wisconsin newspaper.

4. So where do cougars hang out?

The nonprofit Cougar Network offers up some maps of cougar territories throughout the West and reported sightings.

I can't tell what kind of political goals the organization may have, but it does take a decent stab at trying to project where cougar populations are trending, a brief history of the big cats existence in North America and the United States in particular, and they have some real good photos displayed in their promotional video at their Web site.

5. Rapid Repliers and the history of lion attacks

Anytime a mountain lion story is posted at www.rapidcityjournal.com, the Rapid Repliers are soon to follow. And one of their favorite arguments is the number of attacks there have been in North America over the past century.

I'm not trying to sway the arguments here; I'm just looking to provide some data that might keep the threads on the topic at hand.

OK, so it isn't completely scientific, but it does check out as far as I can tell.