DURHAM — February 14, 1996 - 3:14 p.m.

An 18-year-old mountain lioness who attempted escape late Wednesday morning is safely sleeping it off at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

The cougar only got as far as a fenced area outside her exhibit, and while shecouldhave jumped the fence and posed a threat, museum staff were able to successfully tranquilize her within 15 minutes.

Other than her captors, there were no other people in the area at the time. A trainload of school children on their way to the exhibit had not yet arrived.

There's no official explanation for the escape, but exhibit workers say there had been some activity in a nearby wolf exhibit, and that a door to the cougar exhibit might have been accidentally left open at that time