An adult cougar, which had roamed the streets of San Francisco for two days, was captured by animal welfare officers Thursday evening. The feline was put to sleep and taken to the Oakland Zoo.
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“The animal is beautiful, healthy and well fed,” veterinarian Alex Herman said after a feline exam on Thursday. The animal, which is two years old and weighs around 45 kilograms, has been nicknamed “Mr. Handsome ”. The feline was microchipped and released after being treated in an area of Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco.
In California, pumas also called cougars or mountain lions are occasionally seen in urban areas. Felines are rather fierce and rarely attack humans.
The Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF), an organization concerned with the conservation of mountain lions, estimates that there are approximately 30,000 cougars in the United States. Most are found in Florida and the western US states. Cougar hunting is only prohibited in the states of California and Florida. Poaching, collisions with cars, poisoned prey, and habitat destruction have reduced the number of mountain lions in the United States.
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