2024-08-07 22:47:06
The Oakland Zoo has just rescued its 27th mountain lion, a four- to five-week-old cub named Briar who was found wandering without his mother in El Dorado County over the weekend.
The Oakland Zoo is known to have housed two dozen cougars over the past 12 years or so who were severely burned in wildfires, suffered from hypothermia during the winter, or whose cubs were found abandoned and malnourished. The Oakland Zoo just took in mountain lion No. 27 on Monday as part of the efforts of the Bay Area Cougar Action Team (BACAT), KRON4 reports. Another mountain lion cub rescuedThe kitten was found abandoned and motherless in El Dorado County in northeastern California over the weekend.
“He was discovered by a resident in El Dorado County,” the zoo said. Post to Facebook Wednesday morning. They added that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife “conducted ground and wildlife camera surveillance in hopes of locating the mother, but unfortunately, no mountain lions were sighted in the area for several days and the decision was made to rescue the orphaned cub.”
According to the zoo’s post, they named the male cub “Briar” because his spots resemble the vines of a blackberry bush. His age was determined to be between four and five weeks, making Blair one of the youngest mountain lions the zoo has ever taken in as part of a rescue mission.
“We will care for little Blair until we find him a forever home,” the zoo said in the post. But that forever home could be in the zoo’s large mountain lion habitat, or in another environment in captivity. A zoo representative told KRON4, “Mountain lion cubs need to spend approximately two years in the wild with their mothers to learn survival skills. Because Blair is too young, he lacks these skills and cannot return to the wild.
It’s unclear why the cub was abandoned, but it could simply be the death of its mother and other cubs. Zoo Notes Mountain lions are threatened by habitat loss due to spreading development, are frequently hit by cars, and, of course, sometimes fall victim to wildfires.
related: Orphaned mountain lion baby at Oakland Zoo improves after blood transfusion [SFist]
Picture Auckland Zoo Via Facebook
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