Mountain lion’s shooting death leads to online feud between California police and zoo
A police department in California shot a mountain lion after it had been seen on someone’s porch — leading to an online feud with the Oakland Zoo after the animal died.
On Aug. 26 at about 4:42 a.m., a resident on the 1400 block of Diablo Dr. called to report that a mountain lion was on their porch, according to Hollister Police Department’s news release.
Fish and Wildlife officers weren’t able to tranquilize the animal, so authorities fired shots after it charged toward them from a bush, police said. Wildlife officers were then able to successfully sedate the animal with medication after it had “retreated into another bush,” according to the news release. The animal was then taken to the Oakland Zoo for treatment.
“We were hopeful to share good news in this post, as our vet team did everything they could to save him but learned ... that he passed during the emergency surgery,” the Oakland Zoo said in its post on Facebook. “This is the 20th mountain lion to come to Oakland Zoo in need of help as another victim of human-wildlife conflict, and we are heartbroken with the tragic loss.”
On Sunday, Hollister Police Sgt. Don Pershall told KTVU that officers didn’t agree with the zoo’s Facebook post as he felt “their post was presented in a way that we were not doing everything we could to capture the animal safely.”
The police department on Saturday posted an additional news release saying, “Their choice of words is careless at best, and misleading at worst.”
In response, the Oakland Zoo stated that it understood why officers fired their guns and respected police’s statement it but never mentioned the department by name, according to KTVU.
The police department ended its second news release by saying, “We operated and acted thoughtfully in the best interests of every living being, both animal and human.”
Hollister is about 95 miles southeast of San Francisco.
This story was originally published August 29, 2022 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Mountain lion’s shooting death leads to online feud between California police and zoo."