UPDATED: Griffith Park’s famous mountain lion P-22 was captured by game wardens, according to a resident who posted photos of the capture online. The resident, Sarah Picchi, told the Los Angeles Times that wildlife officials calmed the cat in her backyard.
Picchi heard a hum at their front gate just before noon. She heard people at the gate say they were traveling with “something wild.”
She thought they were asking for donations to a wildlife charity and told them it wasn’t a good time.
“The woman said, ‘No, I’m with Wildlife. You have a lion in your backyard,'” Picchi said in an interview with The Times. Officials told her it was P-22, which she knew about from the news.
P-22 was quickly located and calmed down.
“We have half an acre and there are a lot of trees. I think he was just resting down there,” Picchi told the Times. “He looked healthy.”
Authorities announced last week that they plan to capture the lion to assess its health after several dogs have been attacked recently. Wildlife officials have not yet confirmed or commented on the catch.
SO FAR On Thursday: Los Angeles’ most famous mountain lion, P-22, was featured in National Geographic and received a segment 60 minutes and even got one Profile with over 6,000 words in the New Yorker.
But after a series of close encounters with residents and apparent attacks on two dogs, wildlife officials today announced plans to trap and assess the animal’s health status.
One of many Southland cats being pursued by National Park Service researchers, the lion has gained local fame for its tenacity and resilience. He successfully managed to cross both the San Diego (405) and Hollywood (101) freeways to reach his current roaming grounds in the Griffith Park area.
But the cat has made headlines in recent weeks, most notably being accused of killing a leashed dog in the Hollywood Hills last month and allegedly attacking another in Silver Lake on Sunday.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Park Service announced Thursday that they plan to capture P-22 to assess its health status and “determine the best next steps for the animal while maintaining the safety of surrounding communities.” to prioritize”. What such moves might entail was not disclosed.
The agencies said the cat “may be showing signs of stress.”
“This is an unprecedented situation in which a mountain lion has continued to survive in such an urban environment,” the DFW statement said. “However, as P-22 ages, the challenges associated with living on a habitat island appear to increase, and scientists note a recent change in its behavior. This underscores the consequences of a lack of habitat connectivity for mountain lions and all wildlife.”
The agencies stressed that they “require no assistance” in capturing the animal and urged the public to refrain from efforts in this regard.
Known as the “Hollywood Cat,” P-22 has been the face of the NPS’ lion tracking efforts. His exploits have been documented in various media reports, particularly for some of his more notable exploits — crossing two freeways, hiding under a Los Feliz house in a standoff that garnered widespread media attention, and even naming a suspect in the murder of a koala at the Los Angeles Zoo.
He is believed to be around 11 years old, making him the oldest cat in the NPS study of Southland lions. He was first captured in 2012 and fitted with a tracking collar. At the time of his last capture, he weighed 123 pounds.
Beth Pratt, California regional director for the National Wildlife Federation, said she had confidence that state and federal wildlife agencies would make the right decision about the lion following an illness
Evaluation.
“P-22 has given us so much,” Pratt said in a statement. “He is a beloved wild mountain lion who survived against all odds and his plight of being trapped in Griffith Park after making a perilous journey through two of them
The country’s busiest highways have shown the world how damaging our roads can be to mountain lions and all wildlife. He captured the imagination of people around the world, and his story inspired the construction of the world’s largest urban deer run outside of Los Angeles so other mountain lions would not suffer the same fate.
“We have to give something back to P-22 now. We must recognize when the limits of this disconnected space are being reached and take action to ensure the well-being of P-22 and the community in which he lives.”
The City News Service contributed to this post.