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Huck, M.; Fernandez-Duque, E.
Survival of a wild puma missing a foot
2012 Cat News (57): 07-08
Wild animals suffer from a variety of natural or human induced injuries, but often little is known how this affects the survival of individuals. Here we report on a wild female puma _Puma concolor_ missing her left hind-foot who survived at least 2.5 months. During a pilot camera-trapping study starting October 2010 we installed ten camera traps in the study area. In June 2011 we obtained a photo from a puma missing her left hind foot. A photo and 15-sec video from the same female was taken 10 weeks later. The video shows the female to use the stump for walking. The apparently good condition of the puma indicates that she was still capable of hunting, although it is possible that she complemented her diet by scavenging on cow carcasses. This suggests that under certain circumstances, especially in case of rare species with low genetic variability, re-introductions also of severed animals should be considered, and that case-to-case decisions have to be made.
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