After receiving numerous reports of mountain lion sightings near Sabino Canyon, Arizona Game & Fish (AzG&F) became concerned that they posed a threat to area residents and park visitors.  They ultimately decided on a plan to capture and remove the lions from the canyon.  For their plan to work, however, AzG&F would need to find a place where the lions could live. 

There were not many choices: Southwest Wildlife is the only facility in the state capable of taking such a large mammal.  One of our missions is to rehabilitate wild animals and return them to the wild, which is their inherent right. We never want to see an animal live in captivity that can live wild and free.  We do, however, recognize that this is an imperfect world and that man has altered many things, one of which is wildlife habitat.  While we wish to see lions remain in the wild, if that is not possible we do not want them sentenced to death. That is why we offered AzG&F a home for life for the lions from Sabino Canyon in our sanctuary.

Soon, a female mountain lion in Sabino Canyon was captured.  During her first two days at Southwest, she was kept in a dark, quiet 12- by 8-foot pen.  Then she was also given access into a 20- by 8-foot run adjacent to her pen. Eventually, she was moved to a large mountain lion enclosure in our sanctuary.  In deference to her home territory, she was named Sabino. 

Today, Sabino shares a large enclosure with two neutered male mountain lions: Pecos and Kino.  The enclosure was specially designed for mountain lions and is landscaped with mesquite, palo verde, and lysiloma trees. They have an evaporative-cooled den for the summer months that also serves as a cozy resting place, many high platforms on which to rest and from which they can see much that goes on around them, and a special hammock made from old fire hoses.  They receive hides, boomer balls, scents, and other items of enrichment to keep them busy.

It is Southwest Wildlife’s wish that every wild animal could remain in the wild.  However, when that is no longer possible, for whatever reason, a sanctuary is a caring environment to which most wild animals can habituate.