Cougar Removed From New York Apartment After Being Kept As Illegal Pet

A cougar was surrendered to officials in New York this week after the 11-month-old animal was being lept as a pet by two owners in the Bronx.

“Wildlife like cougars are not pets,” said New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police Commissioner Basil Seggos, in a press release on Monday.

“While cougars may look cute and cuddly when young, these animals can grow up to be unpredictable and dangerous. NYSDEC is thankful to our partners at the New York Police Department, the Humane Society of the United States, Bronx Zoo Wildlife Conservation Society, and Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge for their efforts to advance the surrender of this wild animal and transport it to a safe location.”

“Sasha,” the 80-pound female cougars’ owners surrendered her when they realized she was not fit to live in an apartment on Thursday, said Kelly Donithan, director of animal disaster response for the Humane Society of the United States, in a press release.

“The owner’s tears and nervous chirps from the cougar as we drove her away painfully drives home the many victims of this horrendous trade and myth that wild animals belong anywhere but the wild," said Donithan.

After being removed from the apartment, Sasha was relocated to the Bronx Zoo where she received appropriate veterinary care. Officials said that the cougar will head to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas next.

“I’ve never seen a cougar in the wild, but I’ve seen them on leashes, smashed into cages, and crying for their mothers when breeders rip them away," said Donithan in the press release. “I’ve also seen the heartbreak of owners, like in this case, after being sold not just a wild animal, but a false dream that they could make a good ‘pet.’

Jim Breheny, director of the Bronx Zoo said in the release that the exotic pet trade does not have the resources, facilities, knowledge, or expertise to provide for the animal's basic needs.

To protect these animals from “very bad situation’s” Sara Amundson, president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund is pointing to Congress to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which the act states it will “revise requirements governing the trade of big cats.”