Philadelphia Zoo welcomes two orphaned puma cubs rescued from Washington state

The Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania has adopted two orphaned puma cubs from Washington state. The cubs arrived at the zoo on July 7.

The sibling cubs − a male and a female about 20 weeks old − were rescued in Kalama, Washington, in June and cared for by wildlife experts at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the Philadelphia Zoo said in a press release.

A landowner in the Kalama area had contacted the fish and wildlife department to report that they had repeatedly photographed the cubs on trail cameras and that no adult pumas were seen, the agency told USA TODAY.

The agency "concluded that the cougars were orphaned" based on a review of the images and further investigation, department spokeswoman Jennifer Becar said.

Earlier in June, Becar said, a nearby landowner killed an adult cougar preying on livestock on their property.

In Washington, it's legal for a property owner to kill a cougar on their property without a permit if it is hurting domestic animals or livestock, Becar said. The wildlife agency must then be notified of the death, she said.

It's not clear whether the female cougar that was killed was the mother of the cubs.

Helping the orphans

With the help of the person who initially reported the cubs, the agency was able to rescue the orphans, which were too young to survive in the wild on their own, Becar said. Up to 10 community members helped the agency during the operation, which included setting live traps.

The cubs were then flown across the country to the Philadelphia Zoo and are being housed at an on-site animal hospital for a quarantine period, after which they will be moved to the Big Cat Falls exhibit in September.

Big Cats Falls is an area of the Philadephia Zoo where big cats, including snow leopards, Amur tigers, African lions, jaguars and Amur leopards, are housed and can be viewed by the public.

Elbroch and Olympia

Zoo staff named the cubs Elbroch and Olympia. The male, Elbroch (pronounced EL'-brock), has been named after Mark Elbroch, the leading puma researcher for Panthera, a conservation organization devoted to protecting the world’s 40 species of wildcats.

Olympia is named after the state capital of Washington.

Elbroch is a little bigger than his sister, a lot more confident, and unafraid to explore. Olympia, on the other hand, follows along, looking to her brother for reassurance on everything, zoo officials said.

Special diet

Elbroch and Olympia arrived from Washington underweight. The zoo’s veterinary team is working to provide them with customized care that includes feeding them a specialized diet designed by the zoo’s nutritionist.

Puma cubs are completely dependent on their mother when they are born and typically nurse for three months, but they can begin eating meat at six weeks, according to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Rachel Metz, vice president of Animal Well-Being at the zoo, said the cubs probably would not have survived without the intervention of the fish and wildlife agency, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Philadelphia Zoo.

"These animals will serve as ambassadors to educate our guests on the importance of apex predators and the challenges that revolve around humans and our relationships with predators in the wild," Metz said.

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In the wild

Pumas − also known as the cougar, mountain lion, panther and catamount − are found in 28 countries across the Americas, from Alaska to Chile, according to Panthera.

Pumas have the largest hind legs of any feline species, allowing them to jump long distances while hunting. Their prey varies from large animals like moose to animals as small as mice. Their fur ranges in color from light buff to a dark reddish brown, and the back of their ears, tips of their tails and snout are black.

But pumas are not considered big cats because they cannot roar. Instead, they have a high-pitched trill vocalization that sounds similar to a bird.

The puma remains poorly understood despite being found so widely, and its population is believed to be declining overall, according to Panthera.

The Philadelphia Zoo said that while pumas are not classified as endangered, they still face threats in the wild because of habitat loss and fragmentation, dangerous road and highway crossings, and disease.

This is not the first time the Philadelphia Zoo has adopted a pair of orphaned pumas. In 2005, cubs Dakota, Sage and Cinnabar were taken in by the zoo after they were orphaned in South Dakota. All three have since died from illnesses related to old age. Cinnabar died in 2018 and Sage and Dakota in 2021.

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Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Philadelphia Zoo welcomes two puma cubs orphaned in Washington state