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Orphaned cougar cubs from Southwest Washington find a home at the Oregon Zoo

By Amy Libby, Columbian Web Editor
Published: December 6, 2024, 2:39pm

Two Southwest Washington natives have found a new home in Oregon — at the zoo.

Orphaned cougar cub siblings — a male and a female — have been settling in at the Oregon Zoon after being rescued by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The pair were taken to the zoo after staff determined they wouldn’t survive on their own in the wild.

“We’re so happy we can provide a home for these cubs,” Jen Osburn Eliot, who oversees the zoo’s Great Northwest area, said in a statement. “We wish they could’ve grown up with their mom, but since that’s not possible we’ll be doing everything we can for them. They’re still shy with people, so we’re giving them time to adjust and explore their new home.”

Video of the cubs, who are about 4 months old weigh about 20 pounds — double that of the average house cat — shows them playing and exploring the enclosure they share. The cubs — who don’t have names yet — are being cared for by zoo medical staff.

“The cubs aren’t ready to venture out yet, but we’re getting the habitat prepared for a lot of activity once they are,” Osburn Eliot said.

According to the zoo, eventually the pair will move into the cougar habitat in the Great Northwest area of the zoo.

Paiute, the last resident of the habitat, died earlier this year at the age of 15. He was also orphaned in the wild, having been brought to the Oregon Zoo from Idaho in 2010.

Many animals at the zoo have been rescued from the wilds of the Northwest. They include a golden eagle named Deschutes who was stuck by a car and lost vision in one eye, making a return to the wild impossible, and Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth Josie, who was rescued from the illegal pet trade.

For more information visit www.oregonzoo.org.

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