Zoo helps mountain lion cub burned in wildfire

An injured, orphaned California mountain lion, found by firefighters clinging to life two weeks ago near a wildfire, has some new companions to bond with as he continues to recover. The male lion, nicknamed Captain Cal after the fire agency which found him, has been recovering from burns at the Oakland Zoo Veterinary Hospital.

Wednesday he met two other orphaned sibling female cubs, also found in the same fire zone in Shasta County. Vets say mountain lions are social animals and the interaction should help with their physical and mental recovery. Cal still has bandages on his badly burned paws so the zoo is keeping their enclosures separated by bars for now to ensure those bandages stay on.

The zoo says Cal's wounds are healing nicely and he's walking and moving around better than expected. Cal has doubled his weight since he was brought to the zoo and now weighs about nine pounds. He's estimated to be 6 to 7 weeks old, about the same age as the two females.

The zoo says, since they were orphaned at such a young age, all three cubs will not be able to be released back into the wild. But the zoo says all three will be stay together and eventually end up in the same accredited yet-to-be-determined zoo. 

(Image Credits: Oakland Zoo)