Yuma is a 10-year-old cougar who resided at a safe haven sanctuary in Colorado. The sad part is, the sanctuary was not receiving enough funding to continue caring for the animals. The Director made the very difficult decision to begin placing animals at other facilities in order to ensure they received the proper care. It must have been so humbling to have been faced with such a decision.
Upon arriving at TWS, Yuma was sedated for a full physical. Sadly, we soon realized that Yuma had been declawed on all four feet and she had regrowth where the nails were growing back into her pads with some bones exposed.
Usually, we could make the decision to correct this, but Yuma’s declaw was not done by a vet. Most of her digits on her feet are crushed beyond repair. Amazingly, Yuma seems to have little pain. She can be seen chasing an empty milk carton or large Easter egg, both forms of enrichment, across her enclosure.
She is also one of the most vocal cats on our property and calls out like a goose whenever she sees a keeper or visitor.
