The two mountain lions of the cub have been released back to the San Diego County wilderness.
Malnutritional bears were caught by the UC California University of California Carnivore Program and the California Fish and Wildlife earlier this year, according to the San Diego Humanitarian Society. They were taken to the organization’s Ramona Wildlife Center on March 26 for dedicated rehabilitation and veterinary care.
Angela Hernandez-Cusick, the center’s wildlife director, said human interaction was kept to a minimum throughout the recovery process to familiarize the bears with their cubs.
“From us day in and day out, we provide visual impairments, which may be from the way we work with them,” said Hernandez-Cusick. “We are monitoring them regularly, but we have to be truly creative in how we move forward.”
The mountain lion was released on September 18 without human attachment.
“In fact, we didn’t name the patient, just because of this attachment,” Hernandez-Cusick said.
Wild mountain lions face constant risks in California, including vehicles, wildfires and habitat encroachment, Hernandez-Cusick said. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the population of wild mountain lions has greatly decreased over the years, and the species is classified as “nearly threatening.”
“We certainly don’t want them to get stuck in situations where human wildlife conflicts will occur,” Hernandez-Cusick said of the recently released Lions Club. “I hope they are less likely to interact with humans.” Hopefully they won’t get too close to the house and stay more in the rural areas.
Last year, the California Mountain Lion Project, a research work led by academics and environmentalists, showed that previous predictions of California’s wild lion population were incorrect. The researchers estimated that the population was significantly reduced, rather than 6,000, between 3,200 and 4,500.
