Susie

Susie the cougar is a wonderful example of a success story due to what we do here at Wild About Cats. In the fall of 1997, the Nevada Sheriff's Department contacted us about a confiscated cougar. Susie had been discovered in what appeared to be a junk yard in an old chicken coop. She had been tied to a 23 inch chain on the ground for six years. Upon confiscation, they held her at the local Animal Control office (see the photo above). They asked if Wild About Cats could take her off of their hands and find a good home for her as they had no alternatives. We were glad to!

At that time, we were being interviewed by National Geographic for a story they are going to be doing on cougars in the pet trade. They asked us to document her stay with us for their story. We have photos of the place that she came from and it's very difficult to look at. The only water source she'd once had was a barrel filled with urine and feces. In an effort to keep her sitting area sanitary, she would back into it to relieve herself. Who knows how long it had been since she'd had water. We assumed she had eatten snow and gotten some liquid from the chickens she had been fed.

She was darted by the Nevada officials and the dart had hit her in the hip. Upon arrival, she was still sedated, and we stitched her wound. We also gave her a full physical exam, vaccinating her, and drawing blood for Dr. Jenni Spencer's immunology research. It was also noted that her teeth were filed down due to chewing the wall in the confined space she had been in. At first, she only weighed 50 lbs and was severely malnourished and atrophied. About six weeks later, she was taken in for spay surgery. At that time, her weight was up to over 70 lbs. We also took x-rays to see how her bone development looked, gave her some vaccine boosters, drew more blood for the immunology research (since receiving her first vaccines), and sent the uterine material to Dr. Linda Munson for her reproductive studies.

Susie seems to be unable to chirp or talk like a normal cougar (to listen to these sounds check out Apache's page). We think this is due to throat damage from the chain she lived on. She makes a little coughing sound as a greeting and purrs for one of our volunteers that is her favorite human. She has huge, doe-like eyes, that everyone comments on as speaking volumes. It was very moving for us to watch her discover a toy, jump up on a platform, eat grass, even learning how to walk straight; all for the first time.

On December 6, she will be going to her new home at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, California (near San Francisco). A few years earlier they had been in contact with us about taking in a cougar to use as an educational exhibit. We had all "dropped the ball" and they never had gotten one. Diana Grenados, head of live collections at the museum, feels confident, as do we, that fate had Susie in mind for them. She will now live the remainder of her life out with caring people and a comfortable home, and also be an ambassador to her wild cousins that are so misunderstood by the general public in this state.

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