Two young mountain lions nearly faced their doom recently near a water reservoir in Colorado. The pair were huddled together in a spillway directly below the Vallecito Reservoir, not realizing they were trapped in a very dangerous situation.
A dam tender for the local irrigation district was just about to release roaring, rushing waters from the reservoir into the spillway - when luckily he noticed the two large kittens.
He quickly called wildlife authorities, who rushed to the scene to save the mountain lions' lives.
This man and the wildlife officers involved are heroes and deserve commendations for their incredible rescue operation! Other agencies should take note of their work to save these majestic animals - rather than condemning them to death as predators.And this rescue operation was quite the dramatic adventure!
A District Wildlife Manager at first wasn't sure how he could save the two animals, but luckily he had a brilliant idea. Hoping that the cats would be smart enough to follow his lead, he dangled a rope in front of the young animals - and one grabbed on! Then, he lifted the first cat out to safety.
For the second animal, the manager had to climb down into the spillway and entice it with the rope until staff were able to lift it up and out using a catch pole. Unsure of what was going on, it ran and hid under the wildlife officers' truck for a while before eventually reconnecting with its sibling and running off into the wilderness.
These wildlife officers could have given up. They could have written off these mountain lions as not worth their time, or claimed that predator species' lives just weren't worth the risk. But they refused to give up, and as a result, these two little siblings are still happy and free.
More agencies should follow their lead and rewrite their predatory species management policies to ensure all wild animals are given the chance to survive and thrive! Sign the petition to celebrate the Colorado wildlife officers' work and urge other agencies to follow suit. 