Los Angeles Mountain Lion P

He was believed to have been born roughly 12 years ago in the Santa Monica Mountains that bisect Los Angeles. P-22’s father was P-1, the first mountain lion collared under a National Park Service program aimed at helping scientists understand the threats to wild animals in the region. Like his father, P-22 was known only by his tracking identifier even as his fame grew (the “P” stands for puma concolor, the scientific name for the animal that is often called a mountain lion or cougar).

When P-22’s haunches were first captured on a trail camera in 2012, scientists deduced that he had done what was thought to be impossible: He crossed at least 10 lanes of Highway 101 freeway traffic and became the first known mountain lion in decades to prowl Griffith Park.

To the perpetual astonishment of his human neighbors, he stayed there for more than a decade until he began acting aggressively late last year, a sign that his health was in decline. Wildlife officials trapped and examined P-22, then determined that he should be euthanized because he was suffering trauma likely from being struck by a vehicle. Because of his isolation, he never mated.

Angelenos said they identified with a life circumscribed by huge, terrifying freeways. They loved that the cougar was a reminder that wilderness persists, against seemingly insurmountable odds, amid the dizzying chaos of Los Angeles.