A mountain lion that killed a Chihuahua on its leash after quietly stalking a canine walker within the Hollywood Hills earlier this month is the famed large cat P-22, the Nationwide Park Service confirmed Monday.
For over a decade, the puma has captivated Angelenos, recorded by doorbell and safety cameras whereas strolling in and round Griffith Park and on residential sidewalks. With the big radio monitoring collar round his neck, P-22 is immediately recognizable as he roams the hills. However the feline celeb lately reminded the world that he’s nonetheless a wild animal.
P-22 killed the Chihuahua because it was strolling on a leash with a canine walker on Nov. 9, in keeping with the Nationwide Park Service, which screens mountain lions residing within the area.
“Primarily based on video footage and GPS monitoring collar knowledge, we all know P-22 was the animal chargeable for the assault,” the company stated in a press release on Monday
However the possibilities of a human being attacked by the cougar are nonetheless very slim, in keeping with consultants.
“You’re extra prone to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion,” stated Beth Pratt, regional govt director of the nonprofit Nationwide Wildlife Federation. “However there’s by no means zero threat.”
Grainy video of the assault, first reported by KTLA-TV, confirmed the canine walker with two canines being adopted by a mountain lion within the slender streets of the Hollywood Hills. Staying low to the bottom, the mountain lion stalked the group earlier than it attacked Piper, a Chihuahua combine, in keeping with the station.
The assault occurred close to the Hollywood Reservoir, the Nationwide Park Service stated in a press release. The 12-year-old P-22 is the oldest cat within the company’s examine. For years, P-22 has quietly eked out his existence in a nine-square-mile space of Griffith Park and close by residential neighborhoods.
The Park Service stated that is the primary time they’re conscious of a mountain lion attacking a pet on a leash within the Los Angeles space, however there have been different incidents reported in Colorado and different components of Southern California.
P-22, like most different mountain lions, are opportunistic predators, stated Pratt.
“They’re stealth predators,” she stated. “They’re known as ‘ghost cats’ for a cause. That is how they get their prey. It’s not just like the imaginative and prescient of lions in Africa that chase down their prey on the plains.”
As a pet proprietor herself, Pratt is saddened for the canine and its proprietor. However pets can resemble a mountain lion’s pure prey, she stated. In conduct acquainted to house owners of pet cats, P-22 stalked the canine walker and the canines earlier than he pounced, Pratt stated, however he didn’t present any aggression towards the canine walker as soon as it received the canine.
“It’s unhappy that P-22 killed a beloved pet,” she stated. “However he doesn’t know that. He was simply being a mountain lion.”
Such assaults are uncommon, Pratt stated. P-22 has tailored and charted his personal course round human exercise. The 123-pound large cat has maintained a nocturnal existence round his common stomping floor close to the Hollywood register Griffith Park.
Researchers imagine P-22 is initially from the Santa Monica Mountains, born to a different tagged lion, P-1, and an unnamed feminine lion.
In 2012, he discovered his means throughout the 405 and 101 freeways to achieve Griffith Park.
P-22 has managed to keep away from being hit by any autos throughout his Griffith Park residency, and, whereas he suffered a bout of mange because of rat poisoning in 2014, the lion stays wholesome in the present day.
He’s made the occasional foray into the Hollywood Hills, and in 2015 he baffled biologists when he settled right into a crawlspace beneath a Los Feliz house. Then, simply as abruptly as he appeared, he break up that neighborhood.
In March, he roamed close to the Silver Lake Reservoir, pushing outdoors his common looking grounds.
This newest incident was distinctive, however the circumstances have been proper for a mountain lion, the Nationwide Park Service stated.
The assault came about in full darkness, about 90 minutes after sundown. Sometimes, P-22 hunts deer and coyotes in Griffith Park. A number of weeks earlier than he killed the Chihuahua, P-22 took down a big buck within the park, officers stated.
Mountain lions usually keep away from massive city areas and are afraid of people, however they may sometimes wander by way of entrance yards. Mountain lions hunt home canines and different pets which might be misplaced, off their leash or wandering alone, in keeping with wildlife research. There have been cases when mountain lions attacked pets of their yards and even ventured right into a storage and a home in what the Nationwide Park Service known as “two uncommon cases.”
“There is no such thing as a proof that preying on pets is said to an elevated likelihood of an assault on an individual, both in mountain lions, or in different city carnivores reminiscent of coyotes,” the Park Service stated. “Mountain lion assaults on people are exceedingly uncommon, though they do happen.”
The company reminds pet house owners to maintain their animals indoors, to be alert of their environment and to oversee pets round nightfall or daybreak when predators are most lively. If an individual does encounter a mountain lion outdoor, they need to preserve their pet shut, make themselves appear as massive as potential, make noise and don’t run.
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