Artist Corie Mattie was enjoying a few glasses of wine in Los Angeles one night when she heard something outside her house.
At first she thought her brother’s labrador retriever had escaped, so she went to let him in. But what she found wasn’t a chocolate lab. “He was a mountain lion,” Mattie said.
And not just any mountain lion, but the most famous mountain lion in Hollywood, and possibly the world.
His name is P-22 and the March meeting left an indelible mark, Mattie said.
His green eyes shone directly at her, and she stared back and took a short video before hiding in her house, and the P-22 remained until dawn, when she silently scrambled over a fence.
“It touched my soul. It could have destroyed me, and it didn’t,” she said. “My spirit animal escalated quickly. It went from zero to 100, very quickly.” Mattie wasn’t the first to be fascinated by the P-22, but residents can no longer expect magical encounters with the mysterious beast.
On Saturday, the hearts of P-22 fans broke when the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that due to his old age and a number of serious health issues, the legendary feline was humanely put to sleep. Officials called it “the more difficult, yet compassionate option.”
It has held the city “in bondage” since 2012, when it somehow managed to cross two deadly highways and set up shop in Griffith Park, a mountain in the heart of one of the largest concrete jungles in the world.
His charisma and curious choice of city habitat have made him a local folk hero ever since. His plight, trapped on an urban island with no chance of finding a mate, has also made him the face of a movement to protect endangered species.
While he will no longer haunt the heart of Los Angeles, his decade-long reign has cemented his status as a Hollywood star as bright as any on the big screen.
A star was born
Griffith Park is tiny compared to the typical average mountain lion habitat of 150 square miles. However, like many city dwellers, the P-22 was willing to sacrifice space for a prime location.
It was first discovered in February 2012, when Miguel Ordeñana, a biologist who had set up camera traps in the park, was reviewing nighttime footage.
“Suddenly this huge cougar ass appears on my computer screen!” Ordeñana recalled.
I couldn’t believe it at first, but a later photo confirmed that the park had an exciting new resident. In August, P-22 landed his first profile in the LA Times.
The big cat captured the imagination of famed wildlife photographer Steve Winter, who set up a camera trap under the Hollywood sign. He waited over a year for the P-22 to enter the frame. The photo spread on National Geographic and a star was born.
“It’s given people hope, because they live in this big urban area and they have this park that they come to and it’s really wild, with a California cougar,” Winter said. “He became a celebrity in celebrity city.”
A decade of P-22 leaks followed. He scared off a repairman in 2015 when he hid in a space under a house. Occasionally he was seen on the bell and on park cameras, looking regal, even cute, as he feasted on a deer he had just slaughtered.
The city loved him so much that they forgave him when he (probably) killed a koala at the Los Angeles Zoo.
The city declared October 22 “P-22 Day”.
threatened habitat
But it has also come to symbolize a much darker reality for California cougars.
Local prey – coyotes, raccoons and other small animals – are laced with the rat poison that has become ubiquitous in Los Angeles. Which currently generates a lot of concern among the residents.
In 2014, camera traps detected a sick-looking P-22 and officials brought him in for treatment.
A mugshot of P-22 looking grizzled and bewildered quickly went viral, but the cause was no joke. It was found to be filled with rat poison and consumed with mange, a condition that kills off most cougars.
The species’ habitats have been choked off California’s highways. Although up to 6,000 mountain lions live in California, researchers believe the population in the Santa Monica Mountains, where the P-22 likely originated, could disappear in 50 years as the cats resorted to inbreeding, weakening their herd. genetic. .
Large asphalt cuts also make journeys to new homes life-threatening. In September, a pregnant cougar was fatally shot as she attempted to cross a Malibu highway that cuts a key area of her habitat in two. She and her four unborn puppies had traces of rat poison in their systems.
Ordeñana once captured video of P-22s making plaintive mating calls. They would never be answered: the freeways and urban development surrounding Griffith Park ensured that he was sealed off from any potential females and never reproduced.
The reign of the Lion King ended
His presence among the humans who loved him declined. At the advanced age of 12, he began to spend more time acting erratically in the urban areas around the park.
He recently killed a chihuahua, one of Los Angeles’ least endangered but highly protected species. The final straw came after she attacked a resident who was walking his dog.
When officials cornered him in a yard Dec. 12, P-22 was underweight, covered in scabies and with an eye injury that likely resulted from a vehicular collision, said Jeff Sikich of the U.S. National Parks , a biologist who has spent more time with P -22 than anyone else.
It was revealed at a press conference the next day that he was unlikely to go free.
On Dec. 17, wildlife officials announced that after a thorough health evaluation that revealed kidney disease, heart problems and other serious ailments, vets have recommended human euthanasia.
“I told him I was very sorry for not making the world a safer place for him,” said Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation, who was present for the P-22’s final moments.
As tragic as his end was, his loyal fans say his legacy as an Los Angeles icon is secure.
“He’s survived here through thick and thin,” said Mattie, who was inspired to paint a large P-22 mural and get involved in conservation campaigns. “Many people can identify with him. It’s not easy, Los Angeles will bite you and spit you out,” she said, but she resisted.
