Puma rescued from tree

A wild puma kept watch over a neighborhood of Chile’s capital Santiago for 15 hours in a tree before it was rescued, the zoo in charge of the operation said on Thursday. The young male puma, which weighs around 30 kilograms (66 pounds), was first seen up a huge tree on Wednesday afternoon in the El Arrayan neighborhood.

He remained there, practically without moving, until he was shot with a tranquilizer dart by the Agriculture and Livestock Service, after which he fell 18 meters (59 feet) onto cushions, his drop also slowed by branches. “It was the best scenario. It was a low-risk fall,” Alejandra Montalba, director at the city’s Metropolitan Zoo, which oversaw the rescue operation, told local media.

Following the rescue, the puma was taken to the Santiago zoo, although it is due to be released back into the wild at a later date. “He climbed the tree because he was very scared as there were dogs and many people. He wasn’t going to come down alone,” added Montalba.