Puma P-22 has ended up on his own in Los Angeles NPS

Hollywood would be hard-pressed to conjure up such a misunderstood beast.

There are about a dozen pumas (Puma concolor) living in the Santa Monica mountain range, which bisects Los Angeles.

These big cats are stuck on an island of habitat, trapped on all sides by freeways on which hundreds of thousands of cars roar past every day. But this may be about to change with an ambitious plan to build a $60 million wildlife crossing.


A dozen pumas, which are also known as mountain lions or cougars, have been killed while attempting crossings since 2002. Only one born in the Santa Monica mountains has been successful in leaving the area.

Dubbed P-22, that young male is now stuck living under the Hollywood sign in Griffith Park, an oasis of 4300 acres of chaparral habitat in the middle of the city. But although P-22 has prey, he’s alone, with scant chance of finding a mate.

Isolation means increased competition for territory and partners. It also means rampant inbreeding and, ultimately, extinction. This subpopulation has among the lowest genetic diversity of any felid in the western US.

An adult male puma’s home range can extend over about 500 square kilometres, and the Santa Monica mountains cover 700 square kilometres. With southern Californians frequently building homes in canyons abutting puma habitat, interspecies conflict has led to lions hiding in crawl spaces under homes, and sightings on trails.

Conflict situations

Last November, tensions flared after livestock were killed in rural Malibu, an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved a permit to shoot an offending cat, thought to be the resident 70-kilogram male, P-45. However, Victoria Vaughn-Perling, whose 10 alpacas were slaughtered there, stood down in the face of public outcry.

Still, encroachment and the lure of easy meals means that lions continue marauding livestock.

“Eight weeks ago, over a three-week period, the lion, or lions, killed all 144 of my neighbour’s stock,” says resident Wendell Phillips – adding that 41 were killed in a single night.

The country’s National Park Service, which studies this species, say these cats can’t be relocated. Prime territory does exist beyond these highways, but it’s also home to resident populations, and dropping an outsider there would ensure its death. In the Santa Monica mountains, males frequently kill younger rivals, even sons or brothers.

Big cats have lived among humans in this area for hundreds of years. Deaths from snakes and bees – also common here – far outnumber those caused by pumas, of which there have been less than two dozen recorded since 1890. Yet some locals remain spooked.

Making connections

“This is nothing new,” remarks NPS biologist Jeff Sikich. “One of the challenges we have is educating people who live in mountain lion country, addressing many of these misconceptions and countering myths. Even researchers who follow lions daily hardly ever see them.”

The key to keeping this species alive, here or elsewhere, hinges on habitat connectivity, he says. When free to roam, the pumas aren’t as tempted by livestock.

But how do these cats cross major roads to find mates and territory?

The plan is to build a $60 million wildlife crossing. Crossings have been constructed in Montana and Africa, but never over a five-lane highway of this size and vehicle volume. It’s ambitious, but good for coyotes, deer and other species, too.

So far, $3 million has been raised. The transit authority, Caltrans, is nearing the review phase for environmental compliance, having donated $200,000 to the environmental impact study.

“Our fundraising target by the end of the year is $10 million,” says Beth Pratt-Bergstrom, California director for the National Wildlife Federation. She’s so enraptured with these animals that she has tattooed P-22 on her bicep, and leads hikes to trace the cats’ path. “That money gets the project shovel ready and then we go. This will be built in early 2022, and the mountain lions will be crossing soon after.”