The Department of Fish and Game has completed the necroscopy of the mountain lion found in the Gourmet Ghetto on Aug. 31. According to Warden Patrick Foy, the lion was a 2-year-old male, and had a “reasonably healthy weight.”
Foy said that there were two possible explanations for the animal wandering into such a built-up area. “It could have been an escaped pet, but that’s less likely,” he said. “More likely the animal was coming out of the Berkeley hills because it was getting kicked around by more dominant males.”
Foy said his department had received calls from as far away as Texas from people convinced the mountain lion was female and that there were kittens that needed to be saved. Since the lion was male, there is no question of abandoned kittens.
Having mountain lions as pets is illegal, but some people do find a kitten and keep it as a pet. “It’s a really bad idea,” Foy said. “It never goes well. They grow up and get big, and they can be very dangerous.”
Other Berkeleyside coverage of the mountain lion:
Mountain lion tours Gourmet Ghetto, 8.31.10
Why the Berkeley mountain lion was not tranquillized, 9.01.10
Mountain lion calls swamp police, 9.02.10
In memoriam: Berkeley’s mountain lion, 9.03.10
