He was a Hollywood star: for ten years, the P-22 Puma lived in urban Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, fenced off from highways. The animal had to be euthanized after a car accident.
Los Angeles has lost a mascot: The wildly popular P-22 Puma was euthanized on Saturday. According to authorities, the 11-year-old feline was suffering from various ailments. The cougar was known and loved by the public because he was repeatedly seen circling the famous Hollywood sign in Griffith Park.
The city loved P-22s
Due to its recent behavior, the authorities had captured and examined the cougar, nicknamed the “Cat of Hollywood”. Veterinarians found “considerable injuries” to his head, right eye and internal organs. Authorities suspected he might have been hit by a car. The animal also suffered from kidney disease, a parasitic skin infection, arthritis and was malnourished. The P-22 had also repeatedly attacked dog walkers in recent months, including killing a dog that was off a leash. In 2016, the animal killed a koala at the Los Angeles Zoo, located in Griffith Park – at the time the zoo had taken a stand for the puma, saying it was behaving like a wild animal in its natural habitat – that of P – 22 is just the zoo.
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Putting P-22 to sleep was “the toughest yet most compassionate decision” to minimize his suffering, officials said. “It really hurts,” agency chief Chuck Bonham told USA Today. California Governor Gavin Newsom also paid tribute to the dead cat. “The survival of the P-22s on a wild island in the heart of Los Angeles has intrigued people all over the world,” he explained.
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The 23 square kilometer Griffith Park, where the P-22 is believed to have lived for a decade, is surrounded by highways and human settlements. The puma probably spent a very solitary life there: years ago, the US park authority declared that the park was too small for a second big cat. Therefore, P-22 is unlikely to “ever find love with a female puma.”
