A famed mountain lion who became a Los Angeles celebrity after living in the shadow of the Hollywood Hills for over a decade was euthanized on Saturday because of severe health problems, California officials announced.
The aging mountain lion, called P-22 and thought to be about 12 years old, was captured in a Los Feliz backyard on Monday amid fears he had been struck by a car and was suffering other health problems.
The cat, who had traversed busy highways to take up residence in and around Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, became a symbol of campaigns to save California’s threatened mountain lion population. He was put to sleep at 9 a.m. on Saturday at San Diego Zoo Safari Park, officials at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said.
Tests on P-22 revealed “significant trauma to the mountain lion’s head, right eye and internal organs, confirming the suspicion of recent injury, such as a vehicle strike,” officials said.
The examination also uncovered irreversible kidney disease, chronic weight loss, extensive parasitic skin infection over his entire body and localized arthritis, officials said.
“Based on these factors, compassionate euthanasia under general anesthesia was unanimously recommended by the medical team at San Diego Zoo Safari Park,” the CDFW said.
“His prognosis was deemed poor,” said the agency’s director, Chuck Bonham, who fought back tears during a news conference announcing the cougar’s death. “This really hurts … it’s been an incredibly difficult several days.”
The animal became the face of the campaign to build a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area freeway to give mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, deer and other animals a safe path between the nearby Santa Monica Mountains and wildlands to the north.
Seth Riley, wildlife branch chief with the National Park Service, called P-22 “an ambassador for his species,” with the bridge a symbol of his lasting legacy.
Beth Pratt, a lifelong advocate for wildlife who had championed P-22 for a decade, posted a eulogy to the mountain lion on the National Wildlife Federation website. She was with him when he died.
“I sat near him, looking into his eyes for a few minutes, and told him he was a good boy. I told him how much I loved him,” Pratt wrote.
Pratt praised his “intrepid spirit, charm, and just plain chutzpah,” adding: “P-22’s journey to and life in Griffith Park was a miracle. It’s my hope that future mountain lions will be able to walk in the steps of P-22 without risking their lives on California’s highways and streets.”
Officials said P-22’s demise was caused by habitat loss and fragmentation, and called for the construction of more wildlife crossings in urban areas and well-planned spaces for them to roam.
The mountain lion was captured in a residential backyard in LA’s trendy Los Feliz neighborhood on Dec. 12, a month after killing a Chihuahua on a dogwalker’s leash.
“Mountain lion P-22 has had an extraordinary life and captured the hearts of the people of Los Angeles and beyond. The most difficult, but compassionate choice was to respectfully minimize his suffering and stress by humanely ending his journey,” the CDFW said in a statement.
His name was his number in a National Park Service study of the challenges the wide-roaming big cats face in habitat fragmented by urban sprawl and hemmed in by massive freeways that are not only dangerous to cross but are also barriers to the local population’s genetic diversity.
The cougar was regularly recorded on security cameras strolling through residential areas near his home in Griffith Park, an oasis of hiking trails and picnic areas in the middle of the city.
P-22 was born in the western Santa Monica Mountains, and he was partly famous for apparently crossing two heavily traveled freeways on his trek east to the 4,200-acre (1,700-hectare) park in the urbanized eastern end of the mountain range.
“P-22’s survival on an island of wilderness in the heart of Los Angeles captivated people around the world and revitalized efforts to protect our diverse native species and ecosystems,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement Saturday.
Ground was broken this year on the wildlife crossing, which will stretch 200 feet (61 meters) over U.S. 101. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2025.
P-22 was outfitted with a tracking collar in 2012. A year later his celebrity was solidified when he appeared in a National Geographic feature with an iconic photo of the big cat on an LA hillside with the Hollywood sign in the background.
In 2017, the cougar became the star of a permanent exhibit at the Natural History Museum called “The Story of P-22, LA’s Most Famous Feline” that documents the lion’s life and times in Southern California. The exhibit will be upgraded next year to pay tribute to the animal’s legacy, officials said Saturday.
“Even in his death, P-22 continues to inspire LA to embrace urban wildlife conservation and the nature that surrounds us,” said Miguel Ordeñana, the museum’s Senior Manager of Community Science.
P-22 usually hunted deer and coyotes, but in November the National Park Service confirmed that the cougar had attacked and killed a Chihuahua mix that was being walked in the narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills.
The cougar also is suspected of attacking another Chihuahua in the Silver Lake neighborhood this month.
Beth Pratt, California Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, said she hopes P-22′s life and death will inspire the construction of more wildlife crossings in California and across the nation. The nonprofit was a major advocate for the LA-area bridge.
“He changed the way we look at LA. And his influencer status extended around the world, as he inspired millions of people to see wildlife as their neighbors,” Pratt said. (AP/Reuters)