For months, Los Angeles residents believed the park was empty. As the city mourned his death, only memories remained of P-22, the beloved and famous mountain lion who once made this his home.
Until this month, the heir apparent – another cougar, bigger, younger and stronger-looking – showed up late one night.
“It’s very mysterious,” said Vladimir Polumiskov, who photographed the big cat near his apartment complex bordering Griffith Park, a sprawling urban reserve north of downtown Los Angeles. “They called the P-22 the Brad Pitt of the Hollywood Hills,” he said. “This is going to be Puma DiCaprio.”
Polumiskoff, 30, said he saw the ‘huge cat’ on May 14 around 9pm when he was returning home from dinner with his wife and two-year-old son.
He said he had just parked the car and was unhooking his son from the seat when he noticed the creature standing just a few feet away from his car. He carefully put his son back in his seat, got into his car and closed all the doors. All the while the animal was looking at him. “I was surprised at how tall he was,” he said. “This person is truly beautiful.”
Safely back in the car, Mr. Polumiskov was able to take photos, which researchers found showed the cat had not been tagged or collared. “How did this cat cross four huge highways that are crowded 24 hours a day without being noticed?” he said
Beth Pratt, California executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, said researchers were shocked to learn that another mountain lion appeared to have taken up residence in the park so quickly.
Mountain lions are solitary animals, and males tend to dominate a territory of about 150 square miles each, Pratt said. However, as the Los Angeles area became increasingly urban, space available for cats decreased. “I think what this shows is that these mountain lions have no other choice,” she said.
P-22, known to be hiding under the Hollywood sign (and likely crossing two major highways to get there), was euthanized in December 2022 after becoming old and agitated. He was widely loved in the city and came to represent the incredible symbiosis between his concrete-filled landscape and the wildlife that found ways to build their own homes around it. According to the National Park Service, mountain lions are generally quiet, quiet and elusive. They rarely attack people.
In 2021, California officials say they will build the world’s largest wildlife crossing across Highway 101, inspired in part by P-22, to reconnect important habitat. Officials this month said it is expected to be completed by 2026.
Researchers are currently working to capture the new, unnamed cat. This allows us to test its DNA to find out where it came from and put a collar on it with a tracker. They are also relying on public sightings and videos. Cougars are named based on their numbers, and researchers currently have up to 120, so the new Griffith Park resident may be named P-122.
“If he gets this cat, he’ll skip 121 and salute P-22 with P-122,” Mr. Pratt said of the researcher accused of trapping the cat. “I think he ended up doing most of the talking about it.”
Now, Los Angeles residents are obsessed with Mr. Polumiskop’s unnamed cat video. social media. “A new king takes the throne!” One wrote. another person said When she heard the news, she “got choked up and emotional.”
Mr. Pratt said the new Puma made it clear that the P-22’s legacy would continue. “Not only do we know how to live with cougars, we want to do so,” she said, noting that in many other states big cats may be removed from city parks.
“Here we take risks and want to be with wildlife,” she added.
