Zoo Idaho unveils name of new cougar kitten
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POCATELLO – The name of the newest animal at Pocatello’s zoo has been officially revealed.
On Friday afternoon, a crowd of around 50 onlookers gathered at Zoo Idaho for the event, eagerly waiting to find out what the zoo’s new cougar kitten would be named. Rather than make the announcement himself, Mayor Mark Dahlquist passed the honor off to Caleb Gumm, who was serving as mayor for the day.
Gumm, a youth, stood tall on a bench before addressing the crowd and announcing the name.
“Roxanne,” Gumm proclaimed.
Roxanne’s journey to Zoo Idaho began with a call from Wyoming Game & Fish in February. Officials with the agency had located two orphaned mountain lion kittens, and wanted to know if Zoo Idaho would have room to take them in.
“Absolutely,” Zoo Idaho Superintendent Peter Pruett recounted replying to the official.
Zoo Idaho coordinated with Idaho Fish & Game and the Idaho Department of Agriculture to bring the kittens in safely.
The following day after the kittens arrived at the facility, another call came in from the Wyoming Game & Fish. There were now two more orphaned cougar kittens from a separate litter, but this time, Zoo Idaho didn’t have room to take them in.
Pruett said that the zoo began to coordinate with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to try and find another accredited facility where they could be housed.
The next day, when Wyoming officials brought the two orphaned kittens in from the wild, they found that one was too emaciated to survive, and had to be euthanized. With only one left, Zoo Idaho now had room to bring the kitten to their facility.
But then, Zoo Idaho staff discovered that the first two kittens had feline distemper, or feline panleukopenia, which is a highly contagious and life-threatening disease for cats, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
As a precaution, the third kitten was quarantined from the other two, but testing soon showed she had contracted the ailment as well. All three kittens received extensive veterinary care from Zoo Idaho staff.
“We lost those two, and she made it through,” Pruett said. “It was a ton of hours, a ton of effort from our staff and vet staff.”
Zoo Idaho was careful about announcing Roxanne to the public, waiting even after she was healthy and clearly recovering.
“We had to make sure she’s healthy, she’s safe, she’s past it, ‘but let’s wait four more weeks to make sure,'” Pruett said.
Once they were sure Roxanne would be okay, Zoo Idaho Zoological Society began to coordinate a fundraiser, which allowed members of the public to participate in choosing a name for the cougar kitten. Once the fundraiser was complete, it had raised over $3,000 to add improvements to the enclosure.
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People who come to the zoo to visit Roxanne will find that there have been perches added to her exhibit for her to run and jump on, as well as a raised dirt bed with a pool for her to take a soak in. The zoo also plans to add a waterfall to her enclosure.
“I was never a big fan of the concrete floor and lack of perches and platforms down here, and so getting the pool in there and eventually a waterfall is going to be a fantastic improvement for the exhibit,” Pruett said.
Dahlquist expressed gratitude for the zoological society taking on the challenge raising funds to improve Roxanne’s new home.
“I just think those community partnerships that we have, we’re pretty lucky and fortunate. Those make these upgrades happen. So (we’re) really pleased that yet another great community organization has stepped forward to help out the city, to help out the zoo,” Dahlquist said.