Mountain lion kittens moved to Oakland Zoo
HALF MOON BAY >> Two days after a pair of mountain lion kittens were spotted running through neighborhoods in Half Moon Bay, the animals were captured Tuesday afternoon by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and taken to the Oakland Zoo “for care and treatment,” according to authorities.
During the time the young mountain lions were roaming the streets of Half Moon Bay, state wildlife officials monitored the animals for about 24 hours. The decision to capture the animals was made when “it became pretty apparent they had no mother,” said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the department of fish and wildlife.
“Our plan, originally, was to hope they went back into their wildlife habitat and reconnected with the mother,” Tira said. “We always want the cubs to reconnect with the mother.”
Wednesday morning, the
young mountain lions were eating, drinking, resting and receiving around-theclock care at the zoo, according to Erin Harrison, a zoo spokeswoman.
“They were not in good shape,” said Harrison, who added that veterinarians gave the cubs extensive physical exams Tuesday night. The cubs were covered with ticks and cuts, and one of them had injuries to suggest a fight with a skunk, Harrison said.
“We are hoping they will continue to improve,” Harrison said.
The young mountain lions were first spotted on a “stroll” Sunday night in downtown Half Moon Bay, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. The animals “were not aggressive” and “seemed to be enjoying the heat” from deputies’ patrol cars, according to the sheriff’s office.
On Twitter, the sheriff’s office posted images of the animals, with a reminder to “please use caution anytime you see mountain lions.”
At some point the mountain lions crossed Highway 1 and ended up in a wildlife habitat near a creek,
Tira said.
But the mountain lions reappeared in another neighborhood Tuesday, and fish and wildlife officials again went to monitor the animals. Wildlife officials determined the mountain lions were about six months old and weighed between 15 and 20 pounds.
One of the cubs looked “very thin,” Tira said.
Mountain lion cubs generally spend the first two years of their lives with their mother and learn to hunt during that time, according to the state fish and wildlife department.
Before capturing the animals, wildlife officers worked to determine if there was a female adult mountain lion in the area, Tira said. The state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has a partnership with UC Santa Cruz to operate the Santa Cruz Puma Project, which places telemetry collars on mountain lions to collect continuous movement and location data from each animal.
However, there were no collared female adult mountain lions in the vicinity, Tira said. Wildlife officials also worked to determine if any female mountain lions had been killed on area roadways but could not confirm any sightings.
Tuesday at 2 p.m., the animals
were captured with a salmon net and taken to the Oakland Zoo “to be medically evaluated.” The state Dept. of Fish and Wildlife said the animals were caught “when it became apparent they were on their own, without a mother lion around, and too young to survive by themselves.”
The Oakland Zoo has now received and cared for nine orphaned mountain lion cubs delivered by state wildlife officials in the past year, Harrison said. The zoo kept the first three orphaned cubs as part of an expansion; since then, state wildlife officials found new homes for the other orphaned cubs, typically at an accredited zoo.
Harrison said state wildlife officials are working to find a permanent home in captivity for the two cubs captured Tuesday. Because the young mountain lions were separated from their mother, they did not learn the necessary skills to survive in the wild, Harrison said.
“If they don’t have a mother to teach them those things when they are very young, if they were re-released, they would end up in the same condition they are now,” Harrison said.