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CNN Live Saturday
Interview With Dr. Rita McManamon of Zoo Atlanta
Aired May 25, 2002 - 12:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The death of a mountain lion in suburban Los Angeles is fueling a national debate. The mountain lion ventured a little too far from home and ended up near a fence, this one, at someone's backyard. Wildlife officials eventually shot and killed the animal. They said they had no other choice. And I'm quoting now: "A warden has to make a determination on scene if the animal poses a public threat. It's a judgment call based on the totality of the circumstance. The warden felt that even if the animal had successfully been tranquilized, meaning it was hit by the dart" -- remember I'm still quoting -- "the animal posed a threat to the urban area because of the unpredictable outcome. In nearly every instance, we are reluctant to take an animal's life."
But animal rights activists say the animal did not have to die. A veterinarian talked about the case this morning right here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MICHAEL FOX, VETERINARIAN: They could have gone behind the animal. If it was actually caught in the fence, they could have put a catch pole on. So I think this is a call that was made in the usual kind of reflex way -- this is a dangerous animal, therefore we will eliminate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And for more on the debate now I'm joined by Dr. Rita McManamon of Zoo Atlanta right here. Well, that doctor said, you know, sometimes you're just really not sure, it's unpredictable. The game wardens also said, you know, had they tranquilized the mountain lion, they're not sure just how volatile the situation would have been.
DR. RITA MCMANAMON, ZOO ATLANTA: Yes. That's true. It's really quite tricky to immobilize an animal, although we use the word tranquilize or sedate -- in reality, it's general anesthesia. If an animal is sick, it's more unpredictable, but even a very healthy wild animal is unpredictable. And a lot of people don't realize that from the moment that the dart hits the animal, the drugs start to take effect, but it's going to take a minimum of three minutes, sometimes as long as 10, 15 minutes, before that animal is anesthetized.
WHITFIELD: But doesn't that give them 10 or 15 minutes in which to better be able to determine whether this animal can be helped? MCMANAMON: It's possible. When you get your hands on the animal, you can't really put your hands on the animal until it's 10 to 15 minutes. But what happens in that time while the animal is starting to feel effects, it's been just shot in the rear end, so it's a little frightened, it feels a little pain from the injection, and they act very unpredictably. During that time, it actually can be very dangerous for the animal. And so, at a zoo or in many wildlife situations, we actually try to control it for the animal. In urban situations, it's pretty hard to control it, even for the animal's benefit.
WHITFIELD: But don't we see it all the time? They use the tranquilizer dart, you know, they wait some time in which to finally approach an animal, it happens in game parks, you know, safari parks all the time. You know, I think a lot of people are still having a hard time understanding what makes this situation different? It seems like they wanted to kill first and ask questions later.
MCMANAMON: Well, I think in reality, the people who are charged with caring for animals and who actually work every day of their lives in their career to help animals, the animal control officers, and the California Fish and Game Wildlife officials, it probably was extremely difficult for them to make that decision. And they're probably feeling pretty sad themselves that they had to make the decision.
But again, during that time, the animal's very unpredictable. He can hurt himself, he can run blindly into something, can actually run into traffic, can bite a child or a pet.
WHITFIELD: Will they do an autopsy now to determine what kind of sickness...
MCMANAMON: I certainly hope so. I think that that's really important. And we'd like to be able to have a necropsy to find out what's happened to that animal.
But again, every animal, even in a captive situation, we make a risk versus benefit assessment. And sometimes it's the outcome that you didn't want. But it is sometimes better for the people's safety and also for the animal.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. It's so heartbreaking, I think, for a lot of people to be able to see something like that happen.
MCMANAMON: It is.
WHITFIELD: Because you could tell it was lethargic, it was not feeling well, something's wrong.
MCMANAMON: Yeah. And you want to help. It's a natural human reaction. Sometimes, though, we have to look out for both the animal and the human.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. McManamon, thank you very much, from Zoo Atlanta.
MCMANAMON: Thank you very much.
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