He’s the unofficial mascot of Los Angeles who has survived crossing two of the nation’s busiest freeways, ingesting rat poison, and living in an urban area among the Hollywood elite.
The mountain lion, named P-22, was likely born in the Santa Monica Mountains but made the 40-mile journey to Griffith Park, where he roams an area bordered by freeways and is unlikely to ever see a mate.
Now his fame has driven a grassroots effort to construct the world’s largest wildlife crossing, 10 freeway lanes, funded largely by private donations. It will connect the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu with the rugged canyon of Simi Valley to prevent an inbred extinction of cougars trapped between LA’s freeway maze.
He said the state appropriated $105 million in last year’s budget to replicate this project elsewhere, with another $50 million to be added in May. With its hashtag #SaveLACougars, the campaign crossed party lines, as Californians were all too familiar with frequent images on newscasts of deer, cougars, and other wildlife fatally struck by vehicles on its massive freeway system.
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