Elderly mountain lion who ‘touched the hearts of many’ dies at Kansas zoo
Cassy the mountain lion, named for the Cascade Mountains where she was found orphaned as a cub in 2007, died at her Kansas zoo at 17 years old.
The Topeka Zoo announced her death in a Facebook post on March 11. That morning, the zoo posted that she was moved from her enclosure for a medical exam after zookeepers noticed she was lethargic and her appetite had changed.
Zoo veterinarians realized the kidney disease Cassy already suffered from had grown worse and was causing anemia. They ultimately decided euthanizing her was the most humane thing to do.
Animal curator Shanna Simpson said she remembers Cassy as a “one of a kind animal who touched the hearts of many.”
”My favorite thing about Cassy was that she always gave the new keepers a hard time,” Simpson said. “She was such a fun cat to work with and her absence is already felt zoo-wide.”
Social media videos from the zoo over the years showcase some of her quirks. Cassy enjoyed drinking goat milk and was known to lick the window of her enclosure intently whenever something or someone on the other side interested her.
In a zoo video from 2022, “carnivore keeper” Tracey Henderson said Cassy was on the small side at 91 pounds and was on a special diet for her kidneys.
He described Cassy as a quiet animal. He’d never heard her purr or chirp in the way other mountain lions communicate.
“It’s kind of like with humans, they have their own personalities… their own tendencies to do this or that, and she just doesn’t,” Henderson said.
Cassy lived most of her life at the zoo, but she got her start in the wilderness in Washington in 2007, where she was found orphaned as a cub, the Associated Press reported in 2008. She and another orphaned cub, Dakota, lived at the Denver Zoo before being transferred to Topeka in 2009.
Dakota died in 2021 at the age of 14 after zoo veterinarians found a gastrointestinal issue and decided to euthanize him as well, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
Females in captivity have a median lifespan of 16 years and males have one of 13.5 years, according to the San Diego Zoo.
“Caring for geriatric animals is a responsibility we do not take lightly,” Chief Operations Officer Fawn Moser said. “Cassy has been a part of the Topeka Zoo family for nearly two decades, and the love and devotion our team has shown her throughout her life has been remarkable.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM.
