Officials Forced to Euthanize Young Mountain Lion Who Wandered into NorCal Bakery

“You hear stories of Firefighters called for cats stuck in trees… We got called for a lion stuck in a business…”

A young mountain lion entered a bakery in Pollock Pines recently, causing a stir in the small town just west of South Lake Tahoe and forcing officials to euthanize the animal. With much of the town surrounding the bakery, Fish and Wildlife tranquilized the cat trapped in the building, then transported it for treatment at a nearby facility.

The sheriff’s office said the state agency had in fact euthanized the cub “due to its medical/health condition.” To officials, it was clear the animal had significant health issues as soon as they made contact with it.

“At the bakery, the wardens could place a hand on it, and all it would do was momentarily raise its head to look at them before putting its head back down,” Jordan Traverso, a Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, told the Times. She added that the agency “determined that the most humane course of action was to euthanize the animal.”

Although young, the cat still weighed between 40 and 50 pounds. Here is the social media post from the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.facebook.com/eldoradosheriff/posts/970374393170446

A sad situation for the young cat, but euthanization was probably the best route for officials.