Mountain lion that crossed freeways died after California wildfire

LOS ANGELES: A Southern California mountain lion that crossed freeways dozens of times, evading potentially deadly traffic, has died after burning its paws during a wildfire, officials said.

The 4-year-old mountain lion, which biologists had tracked with a GPS collar and had named P-64, was roaming in the Simi Hills, northwest of Los Angeles, when the fire broke out nearby, Jeff Sikich, a biologist for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said in a statement.

It apparently crossed an area burned by the Woolsey Fire, which erupted on Nov 8 and scorched 97,000 acres before being fully contained nearly two weeks later. Biologists later followed P-64’s movements over several miles before it hunkered down. — Reuters