P-22 lives on at festival at L.A.'s Griffith Park
Event honors the famed mountain lion, euthanized late in 2022
Los Angeles County's famed “Hollywood Cat,” euthanized last December, still lives in the hearts of local wildlife boosters. Supporters gathered in Griffith Park on Sunday for the annual P-22 Day Festival, honoring the beloved mountain lion who navigated two freeways to make his home in this often bustling gathering place for Angelenos.
The free Urban Wildlife Week event, organized by the National Wildlife Federation's #SaveLACougars campaign, included live music, food trucks, live painting by muralists and native-plant giveaways.
P-22 was euthanized Dec. 17 after being examined by wildlife officials who captured him following signs of distress, including a series of attacks on pet dogs in the area. A combination of incurable kidney disease, organ damage most likely from being struck by a vehicle and a debilitating skin infection led veterinarians to make the decision, according to a report issued in June.
An enduring celebrity among Southern California wildlife fans — a symbol of wild animals' struggles with the encroachment of man, P-22's story was bittersweet. Some have compared his life to a social media influencer, with news stories and his own museum exhibit and musical composition demonstrating how co-existing with wildlife is not only possible in L.A., but celebrated.
He was born in the Santa Monica Mountains, the son of P-1, an adult male. National
Park Service scientists first captured him and placed a radio collar around his neck in March 2012 when he was about 2 years old. He somehow managed to cross the 101 and 405 freeways, two of the busiest freeways in the world, and so became isolated in Griffith Park, which gets about 10 million visitors a year.
While he was captured on numerous video cameras by nearby residents and scientists, he rarely interacted with humans, avoiding the popular park's human participants. Because he was isolated from female lions in his small habitat surrounded by freeways and urban communities, he never produced offspring, according to the NPS.
Defying expectations, he persisted for more than 10 years in Griffith Park, the smallest home range that has ever been recorded for an adult male mountain lion.
P-22 became the face of the NPS lion-tracking study, and was held up as an example of a cat surviving the treacherous conditions facing the big cats living in geographically confined spaces. With the population mostly isolated, a recent study found that the lions could potentially become extinct within 50 years without the introduction of new animals to limit inbreeding.
Tales of P-22 live on. The cat was remembered during a unique memorial on Feb. 4 in a sold-out Greek Theatre with videos, songs and testimonials.
The connections to the famous urban puma were recreated by scientists, school children, philanthropists and politicians at the sold-out “Celebration of Life for P-22 memorial.
“Not only was he an important ambassador for urban wildlife, but his scientific contributions were also many. He helped us understand how mountain lions coexist with humans in this complex urban landscape,” said Jeff Sikich, lead field biologist of the NPS mountain lion study.
How can a wild lion, one that hunts deer for food and in his later, more desperate months, fed on a resident's pet chihuahua, coexist with thousands of L.A. residents?
A decade ago, Michael McMahan moved into a condo in the Hollywood Hills after a divorce. He set up remote cameras and captured 87 video images of P-22. The bromance between man and beast began.
“He'd swing by my place every two or three weeks,” he told the crowd, showing off a P-22 tattoo on his left shoulder. “If he could thrive here, then so can I. We were just two aging bachelors roaming the Hollywood Hills.”
Programs to help such creatures survive in Southern California have been buoyed by P-22's exploits. Such efforts include the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the Ventura (101) Freeway is under construction in the Agoura Hills area, and is seen as a “major and critical step” in enabling the big cats and other wildlife to expand their territories — and do so safely, without having to cross major roads.
On display at Sunday's festival was a model of the crossing — alongside tombstones remembering the 30 mountain lions that have died in the region.
The landscaped crossing will span 10 lanes of the 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.