by Julie Hauserman
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The mountain lion siblings huddle together in their temporary digs.© Christine Jensen for HSUS/Fund for Animals |
A pair of mountain lion cubs are being cared for at The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona, California. The cubs were found without their mother Dec. 6 in Yucaipa, California, a small town near the mountainous San Bernadino National Forest.
Babes on the Porch
“One of them was asleep on a citizen’s back porch, which is really unusual,” said Cindy Traisi, assistant manager for the wildlife center, which provides 24-hour veterinary and rehabilitative care to injured and orphaned wildlife and specializes in native predator species such as bobcats, coyotes and eagles.
It isn’t unusual for neighbors in the foothills to spot mountain lions, but seeing cubs—especially unattended ones—is. Not all unattended baby animals are orphans, Traisi pointed out, but neighbors watched and saw no adult animals around, so they called California Fish and Game for help.
“The cubs were right within a neighborhood,” said California Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Kevin Brennan. “There wasn’t an adult female around anywhere.”
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"Hey, not so close," says one of the cubs.© Jensen |
The cubs weigh 25-30 pounds and are covered with spots that they will lose when they grow up. They don’t have their adult teeth yet.
“They would have starved to death if they were left alone,” Brennan said.
Looking for a Permanent Home
Wildlife officers tranquilized the cubs and brought them to the wildlife center for care.
In nature, the cubs would have stayed with their mother for 18 months before going off on their own, Traisi said. But cubs kept that long in a wildlife rehabilitation center would become too acclimated to humans to ever be safely released into the wild.
The Fund’s wildlife center, which covers 13 acres in California, generally helps injured wild animals get back into the wild. While it has a few permanent residents, including an African lion and a pygmy hippopotamus, it doesn’t have room to keep the two mountain lion cubs, Traisi said. She and other wildlife experts are looking for a suitable environment for the cubs’ permanent home.
Wondering what to do if you find an injured or seemingly abandoned wild animal? Find out here.
The Fund for Animals and The Humane Society of the United States joined forces in 2005 in an unprecedented partnership for animals. Since then The Fund has expanded its efforts to protect animals in the courts and provide for their veterinary, sanctuary, and rehabilitative needs at direct animal care facilities
All of The Fund's direct animal care operations, including its Ramona facility, provide veterinary treatment for thousands of animals year-round, while training volunteers and supporting their local communities. Others include the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas and Cape Wildlife Center in Massachusetts.
