Mill Mountain Zoo euthanizes resident cougar, 'Nina'

ROANOKE, Va. – One of the longest-tenured animals at Mill Mountain Zoo has been euthanized after getting sick.

Nina the mountain lion was 14 years old.

She spent the first year of her life with celebrity zookeeper Jack Hannah. He donated her to Mill Mountain, where's she been for the past 13 years.

Zoo staff said Nina had a non-regenerative bone marrow disease, and that she truly was a "special cougar."