Immature mountain lion captured in San Francisco. Believed to have killed three marsupials in the city zoo.
Animals killed at San Francisco zoo lead to unusual suspect, officials say
BY MITCHELL WILLETTS
JUNE 19, 2020 06:42 PM
A mountain lion cub recently caught roaming the streets of San Francisco could be the culprit behind a trio of unexplained animal killings at the San Francisco Zoo, officials say.
Fernando Robles@Ing_Fehr
At around 12:30 am I spotted a mountain lion roaming the streets of Russian Hill. I followed from inside my car and lost visual contact near intersection of Greenwich and Jones. Be safe when walking alone at night or when walking your pets. I reported the sighting to @SFPD
3:22 AM - Jun 16, 2020
A kangaroo and two wallaroos were found dead in their outdoor enclosure last week, according to San Francisco Gate, and a young mountain lion rounded up Thursday near Oracle Park -- home of the San Francisco Giants -- is at the top of the suspect list.
The big cat is thought to be 14 to 15 months old, an age where it should still be traveling with its mother, and weighs in at 50 pounds. The animal is old enough and large enough to have killed the three marsupials, though “surplus killing,” meaning killing more than is necessary to feed, is an unusual behavior for cougars, an expert told SFGate.
“It’s not common, but there have been numerous instances over the years where we’ve had pumas go into enclosures with animals and kill tons of them, and maybe eat one,” Zara McDonald, a biologist with the Bay Area Puma Project, told the outlet.
After being captured, the adolescent predator was looked over by a veterinarian, collared and then released into the wild, KGO reported.
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