Last week, Bob introduced you to the newest member of our #CMZoo family, an adorable mountain lion kitten! We may never know this little guy’s full backstory, but what we do know is he was rescued by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers after being found on a logging road outside of Spokane. Since he would be unable to survive in the wild without his mother at his age, WDFW contacted Oregon Zoo and made arrangements for a short stopover for vaccinations and a health assessment before being transported here. On the evening of June 15th, he arrived at his new home with us. We estimate he’s between six and eight weeks old, based on his weight, size and teeth.
He’s been settling in well since his arrival from Washington. His favorite activities include wrestling with his stuffed bear, chirping, sleeping and eating. He recently graduated from bottle to bowl, making quick work of gobbling up a mix of milk and raw meat. As you can see, it’s a pretty messy ordeal, but he gets the job done! Table manners aren’t that important to us, anyway.
He’s starting to become acquainted with his Rocky Mountain Wild keepers, who say he seems very eager to interact. Soon they’ll begin work on crate training so that he’ll be comfortable during his move down to Rocky Mountain Wild when the time is right. Our eventual goal is to introduce him to 1-year-old mountain lion siblings, Sitka and Adira, who also came to #CMZoo after being orphaned in Washington. As animal ambassadors, these three will have key roles in helping guests build personal connections to these incredible cats, while helping educate the public about their species. We don’t have an exact date for when the mountain lion kitten will be on exhibit, but we’ll continue to keep you updated on his progress!