{"id":428443,"date":"2026-01-25T05:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T05:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/428443\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T05:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T05:49:11","slug":"biologists-seek-to-reunite-mountain-lion-cub-with-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/428443\/","title":{"rendered":"Biologists\u00a0seek\u00a0to\u00a0reunite mountain\u00a0lion cub with family\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biologists\u00a0are working\u00a0to\u00a0reunite\u00a0a\u00a0mountain lion cub\u00a0with\u00a0her\u00a0mother after the cub was\u00a0found earlier this week\u00a0in the middle of a Castaic roadway,\u00a0a California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initial reports\u00a0indicated\u00a0that\u00a0a\u00a0mountain\u00a0lion\u00a0cub may have\u00a0possibly been\u00a0hit by a car near\u00a0Hillcrest Parkway in Castaic\u00a0in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Cort Klopping,\u00a0a\u00a0spokesman\u00a0for the agency,\u00a0said on Friday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fish and Wildlife\u00a0personnel\u00a0were dispatched to the location after the cub was seen running off to the nearby area at around 2:15 a.m. that same morning.\u00a0It was also reported that two other lions were traveling with the cub at the time of the incident, according to\u00a0CHP Officer\u00a0Carlos\u00a0Burgos- Lopez,\u00a0during\u00a0initial\u00a0reports.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the cub was captured by a field team, she\u00a0was transported to a local\u00a0veterinarian\u2019s\u00a0office for\u00a0assessment, Klopping said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Radiograph\u00a0tests\u00a0were performed, and\u00a0vets did not find any\u00a0broken bones, swelling, or obvious issues.\u00a0The cub only had a small laceration on its right front paw, and slight fraying, he added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"APhoto courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

The cub\u00a0was weighed at\u00a016 pounds, which is considered slightly underweight\u00a0for a cub between\u00a04\u00a0to\u00a05\u00a0months old, Klopping said, but\u00a0she\u00a0was \u201coverall in good condition.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biologists could not\u00a0determine\u00a0why exactly the cub was lying in the middle of the road due to lack of eyewitness reports, and how the cub got the laceration on the paw\u00a0remains\u00a0unknown, Klopping said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Fish and Wildlife\u00a0personnel\u00a0are working to reunite the\u00a0female\u00a0cub with its mother and\u00a0seeking residents\u2019 help to report any\u00a0possible sightings\u00a0to\u00a0help biologists pinpoint where the cat may be traveling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not big enough to fend for herself, or old enough.\u00a0She\u2019s\u00a0still\u00a0pretty young,\u201d Klopping\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The female cub is currently being\u00a0observed\u00a0by biologists and\u00a0was\u00a0placed in a nearby area where she was first\u00a0located, which was described\u00a0as a\u00a0thick brush,\u00a0perfect for a young mountain lion to hide, he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trail cameras were laid out in the area where biologists believe the adult mountain lion associated with the cub may\u00a0be,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u00a0has\u00a0yet to be spotted on the cameras, Klopping said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The female mountain lion cub found in the middle of a roadway in Castaic is placed in the general area of where it was first located in an effort to be reunited with its mother. Courtesy of Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0asked the\u00a0public\u00a0to keep a distance from the area as it could negatively\u00a0impact\u00a0the efforts to reunite the cub with\u00a0her\u00a0family,\u00a0but if Castaic residents spot a mountain\u00a0lion,\u00a0they can\u00a0report it\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0\u201csightings\u201d<\/a>\u00a0page of the agency\u2019s official website:wildlife.ca.gov\/Sightings.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019ll give our biologists a better idea of where the best place is to try to reunite this cub with its family,\u201d Klopping said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mountain\u00a0lions are native to California and the second largest felid\u00a0in North\u00a0and\u00a0South America and are reclusive and solitary animals, mostly avoiding people when possible, according to\u00a0Fish and Wildlife.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In May 2025, a 7-month-old mountain lion was spotted\u00a0in a tree for hours in a\u00a0Valencia neighborhood.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Department\u00a0and Fish and Wildlife\u00a0officials\u00a0advise\u00a0the public to never approach a mountain lion, and to give them an escape route if\u00a0a person\u00a0encounters\u00a0one.\u00a0Do not run, remain\u00a0calm\u00a0and do not turn your back on the cat. A person could make loud noise and try to look bigger\u00a0but\u00a0do not crouch down or bend over.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If an individual is traveling with small children, it is advised\u00a0that\u00a0children\u00a0are put on someone\u2019s shoulders. Fish and Wildlife also\u00a0advises\u00a0the public to always stay alert on trails,\u00a0keep pets leashed and walk with small children, and not let them run ahead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Biologists\u00a0are working\u00a0to\u00a0reunite\u00a0a\u00a0mountain lion cub\u00a0with\u00a0her\u00a0mother after the cub was\u00a0found earlier this week\u00a0in the middle of a Castaic roadway,\u00a0a California…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-428443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}