Bronx apartment dweller surrenders 80 pound cougar to sanctuary
That’s one less cougar on the prowl.
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Animal rescue authorities said an 80-pound pet cougar was surrendered last week by its owner, who called a sanctuary after realizing the big city was no place for a big cat.
The Humane Society of the United States and the state Department of Environmental Conservation teamed up with the NYPD to remove the 11-month-old cougar from a Bronx home after the owner called for help.
Authorities took the cougar to the Bronx Zoo for safekeeping until veterinarians from an Arkansas-based wildlife refuge arrived to transport it to their sanctuary.
“They came to the realization that this cougar is getting large, and it is dangerous,” said Emily McCormack, animal curator for the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. “Those claws and those teeth and the pressure of the bite. You cannot take the wild out of these animals. Eventually something bad would have happened.”
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-cougar-bronx-home-removed-to-sanctuary-20210830-2uh7msghdvh5lmx2vhjyrfhdga-story.html
“This cougar is relatively lucky that her owners recognized a wild cat is not fit to live in an apartment or any domestic environment,” Kelly Donithan, director of animal disaster response for the Human Society, said in a statement. “The owner’s tears and nervous chirps from the cougar as we drove her away painfully drives home the many victims of this horrendous trade and myth that wild animals belong anywhere but the wild.”
No illnesses or injuries were found during the medical exam, said Emily McCormack, animal curator for Turpentine Creek. A full exam will be done once Sasha arrives at the Arkansas sanctuary.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/nyregion/cougar-sasha-rescued-bronx.html