Mourning the Ghost of Hollywood

Normally, when we think of celebrity animals, we most often think of zoo animals.  They are the individuals that we can follow the most intimately and observe the closest; many of them are followed by an eager public from birth to death.  There are some individual wild animals, however, which through one means or another can truly leave a mark on the public consciousness.  Among those was P22.

I first became familiar with the mountain lion P22 years ago when attending a talk by famed wildlife photographer Steve Winter.  Among the crown jewels of Winter's career was a photo taken of a mountain lion walking down a hillside under cover of darkness.  At a quick glance, it might have appeared to have been a photo that could have been taken anywhere across the vast range of the species, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego - until one noticed a decidedly unnatural feature crowning the hilltop behind the cat - the Hollywood sign.  

For a decade, P22 carved out a living on the edge of the second largest city in the United States, prowling the same Griffith Park that houses the Los Angeles Zoo.  He became a wildlife celebrity, a symbol of how, even the face of habitat changes and human population growth, wild animals could still persevere in the face of humanity and "civilization."  An apex predator in what one would normally think of as one of the tamest, most domesticated landscapes in the state.  He was the king of southern California.

That reign has just come to an end.  Plans were in works to trap the cat after a series of attacks on dogs.  Before the biologists could get to him, it seems a car did.  P22 was found severely injured, presumably from being struck by a vehicle.  The decision was made to humanely euthanize him.

P22's story has ended - but not necessarily the story of pumas in Los Angeles.  Where one mountain lion has carved out a living, so may others.  It may very well be that another will take him place in the shadow of the Hollywood sign and that the sight of lion tracks in the dust on the outskirts of LA won't be an aberration, but a fact of life from now on.