Sometimes you’re having a regular day at the office and crazy happens. Like a mountain lion running into your California office. That’s what happened to Mark Waterhouse. He was working at Morse Micro Office and all of a sudden, he saw something sprint into the lab.
Now, usually, when you see a cute cat or something, your first reaction might be to snap a pic. Waterhouse wasn’t sure what he had seen. All he knew was that it was a big cat, and he wanted a picture. Thankfully, by the time he thought of going into the room with the now basically caged mountain lion, the California resident thought twice. He heard police sirens and checked that out first.
Soon, he found out what was in his lab. The big cat had made its way down into the city of Irvine. This is not a common occurrence but it does happen from time to time. Animal control and law enforcement were attempting to subdue the cat and it got loose. These situations can be very testy. However, it seems that everyone keep cool and the cat itself was terrified.
Once the cat made its way into the corner of the lab inside the office building, officials were able to move in and sedate the animal. 113-pounds isn’t easy to take down, even with a tranquilizer. A biologist with the California Fish and Wildlife department, Rebecca Barboza, said that the mountain lion was spooked by something that caused it to run into the open door. From there, it went into defense mode, getting into a small corner in a room.
Thankfully, those in the building were able to leave without much difficulty.
“Never had such a wild encounter like that,” said one of the witnesses, Claire Leenerts. “It was very scary.”
Mountain Lion in California Released into the Wild
Once officials came in and tranquilized the mountain lion, a local veterinary clinic in California helped out. There, the animal was looked over, and also tagged so it can be tracked in the future. It helps out wildlife officials and also can help the animal in certain situations. After that, the animal was taken to a habitat that will be suited for it to survive.
When wildlife is moved to a new location, there are some things that need to be present. First of all, room. There is no point in putting an animal in a strange place where it might face too much competition from others. So this mountain lion should have plenty of space, water, and food. There are nearby deer populations according to reports. However, officials do not give out details about where it releases these animals in order to protect them.
This is the second mountain lion encounter in California recently. A different big cat made its way into Orange County’s Lake Mission Viejo, looking to cool off a bit in the west coast sun.
