P-22, the famous Griffith Park mountain lion that captured hearts in Los Angeles and beyond, was euthanized Saturday morning after wildlife experts determined the animal was badly injured and suffering from serious health issues.
“This really hurts,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife director Chuck Bonham said Saturday morning while fighting back tears. “It’s been an incredibly difficult several days, and for myself, I’ve felt the entire weight of the city of Los Angeles on my shoulders.”
The severely underweight mountain lion, about 12 years old, was caught Monday, Dec. 12 in the backyard of a Los Feliz home and taken to a wild animal care facility for a full health evaluation in the wake of several recent attacks on pet dogs, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
P-22 was evaluated by the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s wildlife health team, which gave the big cat a physical exam, organ function tests and an infectious disease screening.
They found that P-22 had suffered traumatic injuries, including skull fractures, a wounded right eye and organs pushed into his chest cavity, said Dr. Hendrik Nollens of the zoo’s Wildlife Alliance. Officials suspect he was hit by a vehicle sometime on Sunday, Dec. 11.
Tests also showed P-22 had Stage 2 kidney failure and advanced liver disease, and he may have had heart disease and could suffer heart failure, Nollens said. The animal also had an extensive parasitic skin infection all over his body and arthritis
The decision to compassionately euthanize the cat began to move into finality late Thursday night into Friday morning, Bonham said.
“This cascading evidence began to layer on top of severe trauma … and it just created a situation of compounding effects,” he said. “I made the decision that the right thing to do was to bring peace now rather than have P-22 continue through what would not have been acceptable from a compassionate level in my mind.”
The ailing cougar “went to sleep” at the Safari Park at 9 a.m. Saturday, Bonham said.
P-22’s rise to prominence skyrocketed in 2013 after a now-iconic photo series by National Geographic photographer Steve Winter captured the big cat standing in front of the Hollywood sign, and he was dubbed the “Hollywood Cat.”
But the mountain lion was first identified in 2012 through one of the Griffith Park Connectivity Study’s wildlife cameras.
The park’s conservation effort had been documenting wildlife crossing via one of the overpass bridges of the Hollywood Freeway in Cahuenga Pass. Wildlife biologist Miguel Ordeñana, flipping through hundreds of motion-triggered photos, was awestruck when he came across images of the then 3-year-old mountain lion on a rugged ridgeline just above Ford Theatre.
The cougar’s discovery made history as the first photographic evidence of a mountain lion roaming in the 4,300-acre Griffith Park.
In the years that followed, he became a symbol for wildlife conservation efforts and the NPS’s mountain lion-tracking effort, with books, television series and murals paying tribute to the big cat.
P-22, now one of many in Southern California tracked by National Park Service researchers, typically stuck to his small territory of roughly six square miles in the park, but gained additional notoriety among wildlife experts after successfully managing to cross both the 405 and 101 freeways to reach his roaming grounds.
In 2014 during a recapture to replace batteries in his GPS tracking collar, the cat was found suffering from mange and had been exposed to poison from eating animals caught in residential rodent traps. He was treated and returned to Griffith Park, where he continued to successfully hunt his natural prey of mule deer, though experts at the time worried if he would ever fully recover.
Two years later, he became a prime suspect in the killing of a koala at the Los Angeles Zoo. In recent months, authorities said, he killed a chihuahua on a leash with its owner near the Hollywood reservoir and reportedly attacked and injured another chihuahua in Silver Lake.
In a prepared statement, Governor Gavin Newsom said Saturday, “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. The iconic mountain lion’s incredible journey helped inspire a new era of conserving and reconnecting nature, including through the world’s largest wildlife overpass in Liberty Canyon.
“With innovative coalitions and strategies to restore vital habitat across the state, we’ll continue working to protect California’s precious natural heritage for generations to come.”
P-22 was so beloved he changed California. We were able to make real investments in wildlife crossings and banning the most toxic rat poisons in an effort to make him and his fellow big cats safer.
We love you, P. LA will honor you however we can. https://t.co/dUMXCLb0uo
— Nithya Raman (@nithyavraman) December 17, 2022
Officials hope the completion of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing project near Agoura Hills will dramatically improve conditions for the region’s sparse mountain lion population. The crossing will span over 10 lanes of the Ventura (101) Freeway in Liberty Canyon when completed in 2025, and aims to provide a connection between the small population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and the larger and genetically diverse populations to the north.
The $85 million project will be the largest crossing of its kind in the world, stretching 210 feet over the freeway. More information about the campaign to help the mountain lions can be found at savelacougars.org.
P-22 will have a post-mortem examination that will contribute to multiple research studies, said Deana Clifford, senior veterinarian with Fish and Wildlife.
A memorial for P-22 will be planned after the holidays, said Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation.
City News Service contributed to this report.
