Tip Leads Authorities to Abused Mountain Lion

An anonymous phone tip led authorities Wednesday to an “emaciated and abused” 12-week-old mountain lion cub that had been left in a box in an industrial area of Van Nuys.

The female cub was taken to the Wildlife Waystation for care by veterinarians who specialize in exotic animals, said Jan Brown, Waystation vice president.

The Waystation, a rescue and rehabilitation facility for exotic animals in the Angeles National Forest above Lakeview Terrace, received an anonymous call that a young mountain lion was being kept in a 12-foot by 3-foot box in the 7800 block of Burnet Avenue, Brown said.

“The caller said the cub had been poked and prodded and was in pretty bad shape,” Brown said. “Whoever mistreated it should be held accountable.”

Wildlife Waystation contacted the West Valley Animal Care and Control Center, which sent two officers who found the lion “in a box behind a building in an industrial park,” Brown said. “It was very much underweight and dehydrated. It had skin lacerations that indicated that someone may have been poking at it.”

“The animal is not on the verge of death, but it was very, very ill,” Brown said. Veterinarians will make an evaluation of its condition today.

West Valley Animal Control Officer K. Mooney said the officers who found the cub were told by people in the area that it was brought to Van Nuys from South-Central Los Angeles. She said she did not know any other details of the cub’s origin.

Under state law, it is illegal to possess or transport a wild animal, such as a mountain lion, without a permit, Mooney said.