A sickly female mountain lion who makes her home in the central Santa Monica Mountains was tracked down and captured by biologists and is being treated for a parasitic disease of the hair and skin known as mange, usually associated with exposure to rat poison, the National Park Service announced on Thursday.

Though remote cameras, scientists observed the nearly 4-year-old female cat, known as P-53, exhibiting symptoms of the disease. She was recaptured on Feb. 10 and outfitted with a GPS collar. Veterinarians and experts with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are using topical medicines on the cougar for treatment of mange, fleas and ticks.

Researchers are awaiting test results to determine whether the cat’s blood sample shows exposure to rat poisons.

Poisons go up food chain

Wild animals don’t succumb to this ordinary condition unless their systems are compromised in some way.

National Park Service biologists along with UCLA researchers studying the lions since 2002 have found strong correlations between cases of mange and ingestion of rat poison left outside by residents and institution, such as schools and municipalities. Of 18 local mountain lions tested, 17 were documented to have anticoagulant rat poison in their system. That includes a 3-month-old kitten, the park service reported.

Mountain lions can be exposed to the poison directly, or secondarily by eating other animals that ate the bait, such as ground squirrels or coyotes, studies have shown. UCLA researchers have found the rat poison affects the animals’ immune systems and even gene formation.

P-53 is the fifth mountain lion since 2002 to come down with mange. The first two cases led to the deaths of the lions from uncontrolled bleeding from rat poison containing nonblood-clotting chemicals sold as d-Con in garden and hardware stores.

Bobcats most affected

More often, anticoagulants have been killing bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains and in the Whittier-Puente Hills. For reasons unknown to biologists, the bobcats have a more difficult time recovering than mountain lions.

ZEK, a male bobcat in the Whittier Hills, ingested rat poison and came down with mange and nearly died. He was nursed back to health and released back into the wild in July 2013. His mate, code-named WIN, died.

Seeing the one-two combination in mountain lions could mean the poison is making its way up the food chain faster.

Spreading to mountain lions

“It’s concerning to see this mange in a mountain lion, because it generally means that the animal is compromised in some other way such as having been exposed to toxicants,” said Seth Riley, wildlife ecologist for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and adjunct associate professor at UCLA. “We are hopeful the treatment will be successful and that we can monitor P-53’s recovery through remote camera images.”

P-22, the mountain lion living in Griffith Park, received the same treatment for mange and recovered. Tests showed P-22 had two different first-generation rodenticides in its blood, the National Park Service reported.

To educate the public about the dangers of rat poison to animals up the food chain in the local hills and mountains, the Santa Monica Mountains Fund launched #BreakThePoisonChain. The group urges homeowners and governments to use alternative methods, such as rat traps.

Some cities have banned rodenticides and some stores have removed them from their shelves.