Rescued mountain lion kittens put up for zoo adoption

HAMILTON (AP) — Two mountain lion kittens rescued by firefighters in western Montana from under a burning log are healthy, but they can’t be returned to the wild, state wildlife officials said.

The kittens are now at the state’s wildlife center in Helena, and officials have notified zoos that the kittens are available for adoption, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Vivaca Crowser.

“So far, there has been no response,” Crowser told the Ravalli Republic on Friday.

A crew fighting a blaze in the Sapphire Mountains last month heard noises coming from under a log, but the fire prevented them from getting too close. A helicopter dropped 600 gallons of water on the log, and the soaked kittens emerged. 

Officials estimated they were as young as 3 weeks old. 

FWP wildlife specialist Bob Wiesner said kittens that young would have virtually no chance of surviving on their own in the wild. Mountain lions in captivity also cannot be returned to the wild, he said.

“I’ve been involved in rehabbing kittens and releasing them back in the wilds four different times,” Wiesner said. “None of them worked. Once these animals associate us with food, it doesn’t work to release them. When we tried, it was ugly.

“The best scenario, from my point of view, for these kittens would be a zoo,” he added.

Mountain lion kittens normally leave their mothers between 12 and 18 months of age. No one knows whether the kittens’ mother had placed them under the log before the fire, or if she was caught moving them when the flames arrived.

“Most likely, it was where she had them stashed when the fire started,” Wiesner said.

It’s also impossible to know if the mother would have come back and collected them if they’d been left behind by the firefighters, he said.