BILL MCMORRIS, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
April 7, 2009 12:00 AM
Two mountain lion cubs captured in a Solvang neighborhood on April 3 were delivered safe and sound to the Fund for Animal Wildlife Center in Ramona two days later, the News-Press has learned.
The cats had been spotted at various locations, including a golf course, before being tranquilized and transported to Animal Rescue Team Inc.’s facility in Santa Ynez by the nonprofit’s executive director Julia Di Sieno and one of her volunteers, Lisa Matheson. There they were cared for by veterinarian Sheri MacVeigh.
Fish and Game wardens took custody of the tranquilized cats, stating that Animal Rescue Team was not permitted to house them, according to Ms. Di Sieno. Ms. Di Sieno objected to the proposal, but later relented.
“The cubs are in a licensed and permitted facility in San Diego County,” said Kevin Brennan, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Fish and Game.
Although Mr. Brennan did not specify the exact location, the News-Press determined the cats were at the Fund for Animals center, the only facility licensed and permitted to handle mountain lions in state Region 7, which runs from Santa Ynez to San Diego.
A woman who answered the phone at the Fund for Animals refused comment.
Fish and Game officials said the health situation of the cubs was not as dire as Ms. Di Sieno had claimed and denied another of her assertions — that the department discussed euthanasia.
“The cubs were in much better condition than I was led to believe,” said Mr. Brennan, who examined the cats on Sunday morning. “They were both healthy and had food in their system, evidence that they were not orphaned.”
The biologist arrived at this conclusion by studying the scat — feces — of the cats. He said that digestive patterns of cubs negated the possibility that the food in the droppings was the meat given to the cubs when they were captured.
Dr. MacVeigh, who cared for the cubs while at the Animal Rescue Team center, disputes this claim, citing her past experience in working with mountain lions, bobcats and even tigers.
“One cub was in OK shape, but the second was emaciated,” said Dr. MacVeigh, owner of the Solvang Veterinary Hospital. “For the frame of that cub, it was in bad physical condition. . . . its chances of survival in the wild would have been extremely thin.”
Mr. Brennan, however, said that the weight and frame of a cub are “highly variable” depending on what kind of food they have eaten.
“They are a lot like puppies in that you can actually see their midsection expand while they are eating certain food,” he said.
Mr. Brennan said that it is also unlikely that they were orphaned.
“Often a female will leave her cubs in particular areas and they will be allowed to wander, which people will often mistake to mean that they are orphaned,” he said.
That is why Mr. Brennan says the best way to handle stray cubs is to leave them alone and allow them to “reunite with the adult animal.”
“Any sort of disturbance will reduce the chances of a female lion returning to the area and once that happens you may sign that animal’s death warrant,” Mr. Brennan said.
Ms. Di Sieno said that leaving the cubs in the wild would have been a death sentence, and maintained that there was no adult animal to reunite with. She pointed out that the cubs had been spotted one week before their capture — a sign that they had been orphaned prior to the Thursday sighting.
“If those cubs weren’t orphans then why were they seen at the Alisal River Golf Course on March 28?” she said. “Clearly no mountain lion mother would allow her cubs to get that close to humans that many times.”
She also pointed to where the cubs were found as further evidence that they were not being provided with food or cared for by a female adult mountain lion.
“The cubs were found behind a trash Dumspter at a condo complex,” said Ms. Di Sieno, adding that they must have been “in search of food.”
Fish and Game on Monday was in the process of looking for a more permanent home for the cubs. Mr. Brennan said they might be moved out of state, if the proper facilities cannot be found.
He pointed to two mountain lion cubs that were captured in Yucaipa, located in San Bernardino County, as an example of the rarity of suitable facilities. The cubs in that case were relocated to a Texas facility after about five weeks.
e-mail: bmcmorris@newspress.com
