10 YEARS IN THE LIFE OF P-22
February 2012
Making his debut: After remote trail camera reveals a puma living in Griffith Park, biologists trap him and fit him with a tracking collar. They determine he’s about 2 or 3 years old.
Aug. 14, 2012
Front-page news:
The Los Angeles Times introduces Southern California to the cougar and his likely dramatic journey across the 405 Freeway to Griffith Park.
December 2013
Going National: Steve Winter’s images of the mountain lion in Griffith Park are included in the National Geographic story “Ghost Cats.”
March 2014
Hard times: After trail cameras show P-22 looking gaunt and sickly, biologists trap him for treatment with with topical medications and vitamin K injections. Tests later confirm he’d been exposed to rat poison and was suffering from mange.
April 2015
Crawl space chaos:
A home security contractor discovers the big cat reclining under a house in Los Feliz, sparking a brief media circus before P-22 slips away.
March 2016
Accused killer: P-22 makes international news after city officials accuse him of leaping over an 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire to snatch a 14-year-old koala named Killarney from her Los Angeles Zoo enclosure.
October 2016
Happy first P-22 Day: The Los Angeles City Council designates every Oct. 22 as a day to honor the big cat.
February 2017
On the big screen: “The Cat That Changed America,” a documentary about P-22, is screened at several film festivals.
September 2020
Inspiring a law: Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a temporary ban on certain anticoagulant rodenticides, an effort that gained support after P-22’s 2014 health scare linked to rat poison.
March 2022
On the town: P-22 is documented prowling the streets south of the Silver Lake Reservoir — the farthest he’s been known to venture into the urban core.