Three 10-day-old orphaned cougar cubs have been given momentary residence at the Oregon Zoo's veterinary medical center in Portland.
Wildlife officials in Washington were the ones who rescued the tiny cubs last month, but it is unknown as to how these cubs - one male and two females - were rescued or what had happened to their mother, according to the San Francisco Gate.
The officials from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife immediately called upon Michelle Schireman, the zookeeper at Oregon Zoo, to provide shelter and care for the cubs.
"Without a mother, young cougars can't survive on their own in the wild," Schireman said, according to Zoo Borns. "So I work to find them suitable homes. We have a couple of options we are considering right now, and the cubs should only be in our care for a couple of weeks at the most."
Schireman also acts as the species coordinator for cougars at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The cubs arrived at the zoo on Sept. 18, weighed one pound and a half and had eyes that were barely open.
But the cubs, Schireman says, are eating well. "They're loud. When you come to feed them in the middle of the night, you can hear them all the way out in the parking lot."
At the moment, the cubs will not yet be put on public display until they are given a permanent home, according to Oregon Live.
