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Three adorable, orphaned female Cougar cubs now reside at the Toledo Zoo and Aquarium, in Ohio.

The cubs were all born in Washington state. The state of Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife reached out to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) for help in finding the Cougar cubs new homes following the loss of their mothers. There is no information to post as to how the cubs became orphans, but, according to the Toledo Zoo, their plight is the result of "human-wildlife conflict".

Toledo Zoo staff recently made the trip to Washington to bring the cubs back to their facility.

Zoo officials stated that the elder of the cubs, named Rainier, is 10-12 weeks old. She is eating solid foods, weighs about ten pounds, and is from southeast Washington. Rainier has also taken on the coloring of an adult Cougar and lost her ‘baby stripes’.

The younger cubs, named Columbia and Cascade, are approximately three weeks old. They are still being bottle-fed by staff, weigh about 3.5 pounds each, and are from northeast Washington. These younger cubs are from a litter of four. The other two cubs in that litter were sent to a New Jersey zoo.

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4_Puma_CougarCub-123Photo Credits: Corey Wyckoff / Toledo Zoo & Aquarium

Although the cubs are not yet on-exhibit, the public can view the younger cubs during veterinarian supervised bottle feedings at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. each day, near the indoor viewing of elephants in Tembo Trail.

The Cougar (Puma concolor), also commonly known as the Mountain Lion, Puma, Panther, or Catamount, is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae and is native to North and South America. While they are not endangered, some populations are severely threatened.

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