New York | “A wild cougar is not a domestic animal”: with this message, the New York authorities announced that they had removed a female cougar who lived in a home in the Bronx to give her to a refuge in the state of Arkansas .
This delicate operation, which involved the New York Police, the New York State Environmental Protection Service, as well as teams from the Bronx Neighborhood Zoo, where the animal was temporarily transferred, has could take place Thursday evening without difficulty, said the various entities in a joint statement with the Humane Society of the United States association.
“Sasha,” as her owners had given her, 11 months old and weighing around 36 kilos, “was lucky that her owners recognized that such a wild feline was not made to live in. an apartment or other domestic environment, ”explained Kelly Donithan, in charge of animal disasters at the Humane Society.
“I’ve never seen a cougar in the wild, but I’ve seen some on a leash, locked in cages, and weeping at their mothers when breeders snatch them away. I also saw the owners heartbroken, like in this case, after they were sold not only a wild animal, but also the false dream that they could make a good + pet + ”, a- she added.
No details were given on the place where the animal was found and on the conditions in which it landed in an apartment, nor on any possible lawsuits against the owner (s), the police specifying that “the affair was under investigation ”.
The cougar was transferred to the Bronx Zoo before leaving New York for Turpentine Creek, a wildlife refuge in Arkansas. This type of event already has precedents in New York, recalls the Humane Society of the United States, which insisted that the legislation in force be strengthened. In 2003, New York City Police removed a tiger from a Harlem apartment, and in 2004 a child was attacked by his father’s leopard in Suffolk County.
In addition, the Bronx Zoo must regularly respond to emergency calls to provide antivenom to people bitten by wild snakes, recalls the association.
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