Cougar dies at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo

Tribune staff report
Published November 1, 2006, 4:45 PM CST

One of the oldest pumas in North America was euthanized today, Lincoln Park Zoo officials said in a news release.

The 19-year-old puma had lived at the North Side zoo since 1990.

A full necropsy, or animal autopsy, will not be completed for about a week, but the puma had been steadily declining due to old age, according to the news release.

The puma had been undergoing treatment for severe arthritis to her spine and was known to have kidney failure.

During the past week, the puma lost her appetite and began vomiting and losing weight at an alarming rate, officials said.

Pumas, also known as mountain lions or cougars, are predators native to the Americas. Once found throughout the U.S., they are now classified as threatened.

, 1,1402665.story?coll=chi-news-hed