Ask the captured teen cougar anything and it will have one answer for you: a deep-throated, predatory growl.
The big cat, which was captured in Whiting Ranch early Tuesday, got the paparazzi treatment that afternoon at Lake Forest's , where it was surrounded by wide-eyed shutterbugs as it reclined in a cage in a clinic backroom.
The low rumble emitted by the male cougar reveals uneasiness, said Scott Weldy, the veterinarian who tranquilized the beast on Tuesday and cared for it in the aftermath of the incident.
"He's trapped," Weldy said. "He's a predator and now he's stuck."
Blood tests and treatment for ticks were among the medical services the cat received after it was nabbed in the park.
Wardens first tried to chase off the mountain lion, but it did not leave the Serrano Cow Trail area, so they instead set a trap for it.
The cat is scheduled to be sedated again Tuesday evening and transported to the Feline Conservation Center in Rosamond, CA. Weldy said it has not yet been decided where the lion will be housed on a permanent basis.
State Fish and Game wardens initially theorized that a female mountain lion was wandering the regional park, but after capturing the approximately 100-pound male cat said they believe it was the same one .
It's unlikely the animal—estimated between 1 and 2 years of age, comparable to a teenager in cat years—was living with its mother, said Capt. Dan Sforza of the Department of Fish and Game.
Had the cat's parents been around, they would likely have interfered with the trap set around midnight Monday by game wardens, he said.
