An orphaned mountain lion left to starve in Southern California is being rescued

The red lion lion began to live hard. He lost the toes on one of his back feet and, when he was just three weeks old, he was separated from his family and left alone in a pit to starve.

But the Southern California baby faced a positive change when wildlife officials rescued him last week and took him to the Los Angeles Zoo for emergency treatment.

The plucky little lion has been transferred to the Oakland Zoo, where veterinarians hope he will make a full recovery.

“While his health appears to be good at this time, he is in a critical stage, and the Zoo will be closely monitoring him as he grows,” the Oakland Zoo said in a statement Thursday.

Crimson is one of the youngest mountain lion cubs she has ever cared for, and making sure she makes it to adulthood is no easy task.

He currently requires round-the-clock care, including bottle feeding every three hours by veterinary staff, who must provide the level of care his mother would have while giving him as much space to act like a wild mountain lion as possible. Staff will also take a close look at his foot to make sure he is using his leg properly and it doesn’t cause problems as he grows.

Experts from the Department of Fish and Wildlife predict that he may have lost his toes due to umbilical cord strangulation. This injury may also have caused his mother to abandon him.

“It is possible that she did this because of the cat’s unusual hind limb, especially the missing toes, which would have triggered the mother’s instinct to move her other kittens and possibly save resources by establishing a new roost,” the Oakland Zoo said in a statement.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife contacted Crimson, whom they named P-131, because the National Park Service had collected her mother as part of a long-term study. Biologists noticed a change in the way the mother moved, which indicated that her baby had been abandoned.

After she did not return to the den for several days and her cub’s condition began to worsen, the Department of Fish and Wildlife authorized the park service to intervene and rescue her.

“Decisions like this are based on real-time monitoring, the condition of the animal and whether interventions can make a meaningful difference,” said Kyle Evans, environmental program manager for the Southern California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “In this case, the data showed that the child would not survive on its own, and intervention was appropriate.”

Because he never had the chance to learn important survival skills from his mother, Crimson is not eligible for re-release into the wild and will spend the rest of his life in a zoo.

Luckily, he’ll be in good company.

Zookeepers intend to soon introduce her to a new cub – Clover, a female lion rescued from El Dorado County in early March. He had also been separated from his mother and was struggling in a critical condition when he was found on the side of the road.

Crimson, who may have been abandoned by her mother, will be introduced to another orphaned lion cub, zoo officials said.

(Oakland Zoo)

“Mountain lion cats tend to thrive when accompanied by a companion, a strategy the Zoo has used successfully with other rescues,” the zoo said in a statement. “Although the Oakland Zoo and CDFW are choosing these cubs to live in the wild, the pairing of Clover and Crimson will help improve their overall health and secure a bright future for both cubs.”

Clover has been recovering at the zoo and is approaching her ideal weight for her age. Right now he is too big to play safely with the Crimson; however, zookeepers may soon start “fenceline howdies” between the two cubs to familiarize them before sharing the enclosure.