Famed puma of L.A. facing uncertain fate

LOS ANGELES — Sarah Picchi was on a work call at her Los Feliz home on Monday morning when wildlife officials buzzed her front gate with a startling message: You have a lion in your backyard.

“Of course, I knew it was P-22 because I’ve been following the story,” Picchi said.

They carried the big cat, who has roamed the hills of Los Angeles for more than a decade and become a celebrity, out of the muddy yard in a bright green blanket used as a sling.

“My husband and I hope P-22 is safe,” Picchi said. “Like the rest of L.A., we’re just rooting for him.”

So began the end of a storied chapter in the life of P-22 and the beginning of another — which is uncertain.

Wildlife officials decided to capture P-22 after the 12-year-old mountain lion killed a leashed Chihuahua in the Hollywood Hills in November and attacked another Chihuahua in Silver Lake.

The aging cougar is in stable condition and will undergo further evaluation, officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Park Service said Monday evening.

Wildlife officials are continuing to evaluate P-22 in a “top, top facility,” Beth Pratt, the California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, said Monday. She said scientists are relieved he appears to be in stable condition, but they are still checking him out.

What comes after P-22’s health evaluation will depend in part on what biologists find. When the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that P-22 was a wanted cat, spokesperson Tim Daly said, “No options are off the table.”

Officials did not say whether they planned to release P-22 back into Griffith Park or elsewhere. The agencies said they had “already been in contact with leading institutions for animal care and rehabilitation centers.”