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Tag: p-22

  • New mountain lion in iconic Los Angeles park brings hope after famous cougar’s death

    New mountain lion in iconic Los Angeles park brings hope after famous cougar’s death

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    A new mountain lion was spotted on the western edge of Griffith Park — the same location where the celebrity cougar P-22 was once photographed prowling in the darkness with the iconic Hollywood sign looming behind him.

    A new mountain lion was spotted on the western edge of Griffith Park — the same location where the celebrity cougar P-22 was once photographed prowling in the darkness with the iconic Hollywood sign looming behind him.

    Screenshot from Vladimir Polumiskov’s video on X, formerly known as Twitter

    A new mountain lion may have moved into the same iconic California park where a famous cougar lived for a decade, photo and video show.

    The newcomer was spotted on the western edge of Griffith Park — the same location where celebrity cougar P-22 was once photographed prowling in the darkness with the iconic Hollywood sign looming behind him.

    The beloved mountain lion P-22 called the park in Los Angeles home for about 10 years, the Los Angeles Times reported.

    The California Department of Fish and Wildlife captured and euthanized P-22 in December 2022 after the revered mountain lion was hit by a car, and a health evaluation indicated the aging cougar was injured and in poor health, McClatchy News previously reported.

    His situation highlighted the consequences of cutting wild animals off from their natural habitats and renewed the push to implement solutions such as wildlife crossings over highways, McClatchy News reported.

    Griffith Park is nestled in the heart of Los Angeles, about a 30-mile drive east of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The National Park Service manages the area and its wildlife, including mountain lions, the Los Angeles Times reported.

    Between 3,200 and 4,500 mountain lions are estimated to live in California, with about a dozen of them in the Santa Monica Mountains, the outlet reported. Low genetic diversity puts them at risk for extinction.

    While a wildlife corridor going up over a 10-lane stretch of the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills is “critical” to the species’ survival, Griffith Park also requires safe routes for its wildlife as well, Beth Pratt, regional director for the National Wildlife Federation, told the outlet.

    And while the National Park Service has not yet confirmed the sighting of the new mountain lion, wildlife advocates say it’s an exciting new chapter — especially given what the puma could be called if the agency includes it in its decades-long mountain lion study.

    “If this cat is confirmed and becomes part of the study, the National Park Service is at the point in their numbering system that he could be named P-122!” Pratt said on X, previously known as Twitter.

    Pratt told the Los Angeles Times that while she’s “a scientist at heart,” she couldn’t help but feel “there is something almost mystical” about the numerical coincidence.

    Pratt shared a photo and video clip captured by a resident who lives at the western edge of the park one night as he was parking his car, the Los AngelesTimes reported.

    She also warned others to be careful around the potentially skittish and unpredictable predator.

    “Please give the cat space if you see him — we are trying to avoid for now people trying to photograph him — lights and sounds from cameras could impact this cat’s behavior as we don’t know if he is as comfortable in front of the cameras as P-22,” she said. “And even P-22 would avoid cameras as well. If you do see him, please let us know as this will help the researchers. He is not collared.”

    Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area biologists are also investigating the sighting, Pratt said.

    “Very exciting to contemplate another mountain lion may be calling Griffith Park home!” she said. “Long live P-22!”

    Mountain lion enthusiasts matched Pratt’s joy over the sighting in comments on the post.

    “A NEW KING TAKES THE THRONE!” someone said, referring to the cougar’s predecessor, P-22.

    “Just reading that there is another mountain lion in GP has me getting all choked up and emotional,” another person said. “Thinking about P-22, the crossings making such progress …. P-22 Wow!”

    Brooke (she/them) is a McClatchy Real-Time reporter who covers LGBTQ+ entertainment news and national parks out west. They studied journalism at the University of Florida, and previously covered LGBTQ+ news for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. When they’re not writing stories, they enjoy hanging out with their cats, riding horses or spending time outdoors.

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    Brooke Baitinger

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  • Griffith Park hosts first P-22 Day since death of L.A.’s beloved cougar

    Griffith Park hosts first P-22 Day since death of L.A.’s beloved cougar

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    The legacy of Los Angeles’ most famous mountain lion continues Sunday at Griffith Park with the eighth annual P-22 Day.

    Wildlife supporters will unite at Shane’s Inspiration playground from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to enjoy live music, food trucks, muralists and native-plant giveaways.

    Organized by the National Wildlife Federation’s #SaveLACougars campaign, the free, family-friendly festival hopes to honor the famed mountain lion who amassed a celebrity-worthy following and kick-started campaigns to save wildlife throughout Southern California.

    Beth Pratt, a regional executive director in California for the National Wildlife Federation, has celebrated the renowned puma at the park since 2016.

    At the start of Sunday’s festivities, she took to the hills where P-22 once roamed.

    Pratt recalled more than 13,000 people attending last year’s celebration for L.A.’s most famous cat. But this is the first time P-22 Day has been held since the cougar’s death, so this year’s crowd might be the biggest yet.

    “The loss is still really raw for a lot of people,” Pratt said. “During the other seven [festivals] he was here snapping and listening to the music we were playing.”

    Not literally, joked Pratt, who sports a tattoo of the cougar’s face on her arm.

    But wildlife supporters could bank on the big cat coming down from the mountaintop to amaze onlookers who were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him over the years.

    P-22 first captured the world’s attention in 2012, when a motion-sensing camera caught an image of his hindquarters and tail in Griffith Park.

    He survived a parasitic infection and a cramped range in Griffith Park, but officials with the National Park Service and the state’s wildlife department captured P-22 after he started to show increasing “signs of distress,” including three attacks on dogs in a month and several near-miss encounters with people walking in Los Feliz and Silver Lake.

    Thought to be about 12 years old at the time of his death, the mountain lion was “compassionately euthanized” in December 2022. He was suffering from a number of health issues at the time as well as from internal injuries that officials believed occurred after he was hit by a car.

    The cougar’s popularity only grew through the years after his picture was first seen in The Times and in other news coverage over the years.

    By order of the Los Angeles City Council, every Oct. 22 is celebrated as “P-22 Day.”

    The sad plight of P-22 — isolated by freeways in the relatively cramped greenery of Griffith Park — motivated state officials who wanted to help prevent other creatures from suffering a similar fate to take action.

    The result is the world’s largest wildlife overpass, under construction over the 101 Freeway near Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills.

    Pratt remembers raising millions to construct the crossing, which is expected to provide safe passage for mountain lions and other wildlife after completion in 2025.

    But Pratt reminds the public there’s more to be done as officials ready for the next phase of a fundraising campaign.

    Pratt hopes P-22’s legacy is the link that connects Southern California to all wildlife.

    “We want to do more,” she said.

    Thankfully, Pratt finds partners in nearly 70 other organizations planning to educate the public on P-22 Day.

    “That is P-22’s legacy,” Pratt exclaimed, “showing people in a real way — off the scientific paper — how they can make a difference in the lives of amazing predators.”

    There are plenty more events planned throughout Los Angeles during Urban Wildlife Week, but the hike retracing P-22’s journey is among the toughest, according to Pratt.

    “The whole reason they do it is to show how hard it is for a person to do it, much less a mountain lion,” Pratt explained.

    “It goes to show,” she said, “there’s a lot more we can do to make it a little easier for them.”

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    Brennon Dixson

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  • Famed Los Angeles Mountain Lion May Have Been Hit By Car, Exam Finds

    Famed Los Angeles Mountain Lion May Have Been Hit By Car, Exam Finds

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The famous Hollywood-roaming mountain lion known as P-22 is drastically underweight and was probably struck and injured by a car, wildlife experts who conducted a health examination on the big cat said Tuesday.

    The male cougar, whose killing of a leashed dog has raised concerns about its behavior, probably won’t be released back into the wild and could be sent to an animal sanctuary or euthanized, depending on its health, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

    “Nobody is taking that kind of decision lightly,” spokesperson Jordan Traverso said during a videoconference. He added the agency understands “the importance of this animal to the community and to California,” and “we recognize the sadness of it.”

    P-22 was captured and tranquilized on Monday in the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood near his usual haunt of Griffith Park, an island of wilderness and picnic areas in the midst of the Los Angeles urban sprawl.

    Tuesday’s examination found the cat had an eye injury, probably received from being hit by a car.

    State and federal wildlife officials announced last week that they were concerned the aging cat “may be exhibiting signs of distress” due in part to aging, noting the animal needed to be studied to determine what steps to take.

    Tuesday’s examination found the cat had an eye injury, probably received from being hit by a car and more tests would be conducted to determine if the animal suffered additional head trauma, said Deana Clifford, the senior wildlife veterinarian with the department.

    A computerized tomography scan is scheduled for later this week to look into other possible chronic health issues that may have caused his decline, Clifford said.

    P-22 was first captured in 2012 and fitted with a GPS tracking collar as part of a National Park Service study. The cougar is regularly recorded on security cameras strolling through residential areas near Griffith Park.

    P-22 is believed to be about 12 years old, making him the oldest Southern California cougar currently being studied. Most mountain lions live about a decade.

    “This is an old cat, and old cats get old-cat diseases,” Clifford said. “Any of us who had cats at home have seen this.”

    “We’re working through all of those issues and we’ll take a totality of the findings into account to try to make the best decision we can for the cat,” she said.

    P-22 usually hunts 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.

    P-22 has lived much of his life in Griffith Park, crossing two major freeways to get there. He was the face of the campaign to build a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area freeway to give big cats, coyotes, deer and other wildlife a safe path to the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, where they have room to roam.

    Ground was broken this year on the bridge, which will stretch 200 feet (some 60 meters) over U.S. 101. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2025.

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