Mountain Lion Cub Hit by Vehicle Released Back into the Wild After 2 Surgeries

The cub recovered for seven months at the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center

An injured mountain lion has recovered and returned home.

The California male cub was hit by a vehicle and found on the side of a Simi Valley road with a severely fractured left leg on Thanksgiving Day in 2023 when he was just 5 months old.

The animal spent seven months healing from two surgeries at San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center before the California Department of Fish and Wildlife released him — equipped with a GPS collar — back into the wild in Ventura County on June 26.

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“This patient was a very special case because his surgeries involved a unique collaboration between Project Wildlife veterinarians and shelter veterinarians,” veterinarian Jon Enyart, the senior director of Project Wildlife at San Diego Humane Society, said in a statement, referring to the Santa Clarita veterinarians who tended to the cub before his team did.

“Being a teaching institution, we seize opportunities to share our skills across our wildlife and companion animal sides, ensuring every patient gets the highest quality medical care,” Enyart added.

Together, the medical personnel treated the cub for the fractured hind leg as well as for dehydration and malnourishment.

The San Diego Humane Society said in a release that vets repaired the cub’s tibia with a metal plate and 10 screws to realign the bones.

“For the next three weeks, the mountain lion was monitored via cameras in an indoor hospital enclosure, limiting human interaction and movement that could risk damage to the surgery site,” the release continued.

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“Then veterinarians performed a second surgery to revise the placement of the screws," the release added, before the cub "was able to move to an outdoor enclosure for continued rehabilitation in mid-December.”

Since mountain lions are considered apex predators, the vet team waited six more months until the cub was fully recovered to release him back into the wild so he would be able to hunt and survive.

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