The cub, named Crimson, was discovered in a weakened state, losing weight before biologists from the National Park Service, in consultation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, intervened. According to The Guardian - Main UK, Nik Dehejia, the Oakland Zoo CEO, described Crimson as extremely tiny, fitting into cupped hands. The biologists surmised that the mother had likely moved to another den, abandoning the cub, which is rare for mountain lions. Crimson is now in an intensive care unit at the zoo's veterinary hospital, receiving bottle feedings every three hours. The zoo is focused on helping him grow strong and weaning him off bottle feedings, though the exact health prognosis for his recovery remains uncertain, including whether his missing toes, which could be an abnormality, will affect long-term survival in the wild.
Crimson is the 33rd mountain lion that the Oakland Zoo has rescued, with another young mountain lion, a three-month-old named Clover, currently at the zoo. According to The Guardian - Main UK, Nik Dehejia described that the zoo never wants to pull a mountain lion from the wild, preferring cubs to be with their families for nursing and socialization. Crimson and Clover being close in age could make them well-suited companions, but it will be weeks before the zoo gradually introduces them, with the specific timeline for introduction not yet determined.
He was extremely tiny. The newborn cub could fit into cupped hands.
Factors including habitat fragmentation, urban development, and human-wildlife conflict have contributed to the zoo receiving distressed animals. According to The Guardian - Main UK, Nik Dehejia described this as a broader scale issue over how humans build, live, and co-exist with wildlife. Why exactly Crimson's mother abandoned him and how many cubs were potentially in the den with him are unknown, highlighting the challenges in such rescues.
Often times we'll never know, although one hypothesis emerged that the cub's abnormality – missing toes – could have signaled to his mother that he would not be able to survive as well. It's hard to know how many cubs were potentially there, how many cubs the mother was taking care of.
We never want to pull a mountain lion from the wild.
These cubs need their mother actively for nursing and socialization.
More often than not we are in their habitat versus they being in ours. This is a broader scale issue over how we build, how we live, how we co-exist with wildlife around us.