PRESENTED BY SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS*

December 16, 2022

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In this May 2020 shot, P-22 appears wary of the trail camera. (Miguel Ordeñana / Natural History Museum)

By Ryan Fonseca Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, Dec. 16. I’m Ryan Fonseca and I, like many Southern Californians, am worried about P-22. The wildly famous big cat was captured earlier this week by wildlife officials, who report his health has drastically declined. Biologists also believe the puma was struck by a car before he retreated to the backyard in Los Feliz where he was caught. In recent months, he’d been prowling unusually close to humans. Last month he killed a leashed Chihuahua — not his typical meal — and later attacked another dog. Officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife now say P-22 won’t be returning to his home territory. Biologists are carefully considering two options: relocation to a wildlife sanctuary or, if his health issues can’t be properly treated, euthanasia. To put it mildly, Angelenos and many people around the world love this lion. He’s graced the pages of National Geographic; he’s adorned murals, ugly sweaters and an array of other merch (I have a hoodie that depicts him prowling near Griffith Observatory); and he’s been referenced on TV shows. Remember a couple months ago when the Queen’s health started going… That’s what LA is going through right now with P-22. Our King isn’t doing well, and LA is worried. — Americana at Brand Memes (@americanamemes) December 14, 2022 This week I spoke with Beth Pratt, a regional executive director in California for the National Wildlife Federation and P-22’s self-proclaimed “BFF.” It’s hard to argue with her on that — she has a tattoo of his face on her arm. Pratt has spent nearly a decade raising millions to build a wildlife crossing over the 101 Freeway to provide pumas safe passage (more on that below). Pratt told me that no matter what happens to P-22, he has created a lasting legacy. She added: He changed the way we look at L.A. [and] the way we look at Griffith Park. I think he made us more human. He made us connect more to that wild place in ourselves. We are part of nature and he reminded us of that. Even in the city which we thought wildness had been banished from a long time ago, he reminded us it’s still here. While we’re very much in our feelings as we wait for updates, it’s important to remember that his fate — and the fate of his fellow cougars — is inextricably linked to our actions. He’s one of more than 100 pumas that have been tracked by wildlife researchers from the National Park Service’s Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. P-22 might have unique home turf, but he’s faced the same threats as his fellow pumas — mainly us. Increasing our developments into wild spaces has decreased mountain lions’ territories. And our sprawling freeway network cuts them off from roaming to new areas. Many lions that try to spread out are killed by drivers while attempting to cross our freeways. At 12 years old, P-22 has lived an impressively long life for a male lion. But for Pratt, the assessment that he was struck by a car is “the final tragic note” in his remarkable life and speaks to how “the lack of connected space didn’t allow him to be fully a mountain lion.” Beth Pratt shows off her tattoo of P-22. (Gary Kazanjian/For The Times) Our freeways “isolate [cougars] to the point where they are breeding themselves out of existence,” Pratt explained, or in the case of P-22, not breeding at all. A shrinking gene pool means negative health effects for new kittens (the first known birth defects were reported in 2020). There’s also mange, which lions can be susceptible to after eating prey with rat poison in their systems. P-22 himself was treated for the illness in 2014. Researchers predict the local puma population could disappear within 50 years. But Pratt says their fate isn’t sealed, thanks to a roughly $90-million wildlife crossing now under construction across the 101 Freeway. That crossing, expected in 2025, is designed to give mountain lions a protected path to better food sources and mating grounds. Pratt says P-22 helped make it a reality: We are building the world’s largest wildlife crossing because of him. We would not have a crossing if it wasn’t for his story.