‘Majestic’ creature released back into wild after recovering from car crash, video shows

A “majestic” creature was released back into the Central California wilderness after spending two months recovering from a fractured jaw at a wildlife rehabilitation center, officials said.

The cougar was released where someone found him after he’d likely been hit by a car in rural San Luis Obispo, the San Diego Humane Society said in a May 13 Facebook post.

A veterinarian gave the mountain lion emergency care immediately after someone found him, officials said. Then the “poor animal” was taken to the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, where the veterinary team cared for his road rash wounds, his ticks and burr-covered coat, and a fractured jaw and broken canine tooth.

The team worked with outside dental consultants to surgically repair the cougar’s jaw, then performed a root canal on the upper right canine a month later, officials said. The team also cared for the cougar’s other wounds.

Over the next month, the team gave the cougar pain medication and watched him closely to make sure he could eat on his own and could move “well enough to survive in the wild,” officials said. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife determined he was ready to go back to the wild on May 1.

The department gave him with a GPS collar to track his movements — and transported him back to where he was found to release him.

Video shows how the team cared for the tranquilized cougar, prepared him for transport and released him in a grassy wooded area. The cougar then darts off into the brush.

“It’s a remarkable sight to see this majestic animal return to his rightful place in the wild!” officials said.