Mountain Lion Shot At Temecula Mall Died After Dart Pierced A Lung

TEMECULA (AP) — A mountain lion that wandered into the parking lot of a Southern California shopping mall died after a tranquilizer dart pierced a lung.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise says preliminary necropsy results show the dart missed its mark — the shoulder or rump — and entered the animal's chest, delivering the tranquilizer to lung tissue.

The 125-pound animal stopped breathing as it was being moved.

The lion, a healthy male yearling, was cornered last Friday in a loading dock at The Promenade in Temecula. State Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens arrived and shot the animal.

If the cougar had lived, it would have been released into the wild.

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