A puma that was captured Sunday in a Tibás neighborhood by the Firefighters Corps and the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) has been safely released back into the wild.
MINAE said the puma is a young adult male and in good physical condition. The animal was fitted with a GPS-enabled collar before it was set free at an undisclosed location.
Watch the puma’s return to the wilderness below:
Experts from the National University, MINAE and the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) evaluated the puma before determining the animal was healthy enough to release.
The canton of Tibás, a northern suburb of San José, has a population of more than 80,000 people. But the presence of wildlife isn’t entirely unusual because of the area’s proximity to rural and protected land, MINEA said. The organization explained the puma may have followed riverbanks into more densely populated areas while hunting for armadillos or raccoons.
Pumas and jaguars both live in Braulio Carillo National Park, located less than 10 miles north of Tibás.
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