{"id":249089,"date":"2026-04-02T22:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249089\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T22:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:07:49","slug":"orphaned-mountain-lion-kitten-brought-to-l-a-county-zoo-recovering-in-oakland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249089\/","title":{"rendered":"Orphaned mountain lion kitten brought to L.A. County Zoo, recovering in Oakland"},"content":{"rendered":"

A three-week-old mountain lion kitten rescued in Southern California is now recovering at Oakland Zoo after being found alone and underweight in the wild, officials announced.<\/p>\n

The male cub, now named Crimson, was initially taken to the Los Angeles Zoo on March 25 by the National Park Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife after biologists determined his mother was not returning to care for him.<\/p>\n

Researchers monitoring the den observed the kitten vocalizing frequently and losing weight, unusual behavior for a young mountain lion, prompting officials to intervene after determining he would not survive on his own.<\/p>\n

Veterinary staff at the L.A. Zoo conducted a full medical evaluation, including bloodwork, radiographs and a CT scan. The cub was found to be in generally good health but missing toes on one hind foot, an injury that officials believed occurred in the wild.<\/p>\n

After two days of bottle feeding and monitoring, the kitten was flown to Northern California by Flying Tails Animal Rescue and transferred to Oakland Zoo\u2019s veterinary hospital.<\/p>\n

\"Three-week-old<\/p>\n

Rescued mountain lion kitten Crimson receives specialized care after being found orphaned in Southern California. (Oakland Zoo)<\/p>\n

\"Three-week-old<\/p>\n

Rescued mountain lion kitten Crimson receives specialized care after being found orphaned in Southern California. (Oakland Zoo)<\/p>\n

\"Three-week-old<\/p>\n

Rescued mountain lion kitten Crimson receives specialized care after being found orphaned in Southern California. (Oakland Zoo)<\/p>\n

\"Three-week-old<\/p>\n

Rescued mountain lion kitten Crimson receives specialized care after being found orphaned in Southern California. (Oakland Zoo)<\/p>\n

\"Three-week-old<\/p>\n

Rescued mountain lion kitten Crimson receives specialized care after being found orphaned in Southern California. (Oakland Zoo)<\/p>\n

\"Three-week-old<\/p>\n

Rescued mountain lion kitten Crimson receives specialized care after being found orphaned in Southern California. (Oakland Zoo)<\/p>\n

Zoo veterinary and animal care staff are feeding Crimson every three hours and closely monitoring his development due to his young age, officials said.<\/p>\n

The zoo said wild mountain lion cubs typically stay with their mothers for 12 to 18 months to learn essential survival skills. However, because Crimson was rescued at just three weeks old, officials determined he cannot be released back into the wild.<\/p>\n

Oakland Zoo said it hopes to eventually introduce Crimson to Clover, another rescued mountain lion cub currently being rehabilitated at the facility. Experts say pairing orphaned cubs can improve social development and long-term wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Biologists say mountain lions in California face increasing challenges due to habitat loss, vehicle strikes, wildfires and expanding development that fragments wildlife corridors.<\/p>\n

Oakland Zoo said it will continue providing updates on Crimson\u2019s progress as he grows stronger in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A three-week-old mountain lion kitten rescued in Southern California is now recovering at Oakland Zoo after being found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[111103,28092,36735,42334,143,145,144,12294,1009,45495],"class_list":{"0":"post-249089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-crimson","9":"tag-los-angeles-zoo","10":"tag-mountain-lion","11":"tag-national-park-service","12":"tag-oakland","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-oakland-zoo","16":"tag-southern-california","17":"tag-specialized-care"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}