OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — The Pescadero “classroom cougar” officially has a name.
The Oakland Zoo’s wildlife rescue center announced on Tuesday that the mountain lion will be named “Sage,” and he is recovering well.
The cub was found on June 1 inside Pescadero High School. Students were arriving for school to take final exams when the wild cougar cub scampered into a classroom and hid under a teacher’s desk.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials were unable to find Sage’s mother anywhere in the area and determined that he was likely a lost orphan.
CDFW officials decided to take the cub to the Oakland Zoo’s wildlife veterinarians where he could receive proper care.
Sage will soon get to meet another orphaned cougar cub, named Rose, who is also being cared for at the Oakland Zoo.
“His care team wanted a plant-themed name to match Rose,” the Oakland Zoo tweeted.
Rose was rescued in April after she was spotted by hikers in the Thornewood Open Space Preserve in San Mateo.
“We are gradually increasing Sage’s diet, but luckily he’s in better shape than Rose was when she arrived, and doesn’t need intensive care. He does have some giardia which we are treating him for, but we’re planning on moving him tomorrow, to be next to Rose in our hospital ward,” the Oakland Zoo wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
“If all goes well, once he’s medically cleared, we will start to introduce these two rescues to each other,” the zoo wrote.
Sage and Rose will not be re-released back into the wild because they did not get to spend enough time with their mothers learning how to be lions.
“Mountain lions spend the first two years of their lives with their mothers, learning to hunt and survive in the wild,” the Oakland Zoo wrote.
