LA's Famed Traffic-Dodging Lion P-22 Hit By Car, Witnesses Say

HOLLYWOOD, CA — LA’s love affair with the mountain lion P-22 may be ending the same way it began.

Possibly the world’s most celebrated mountain lion, P-22, rose to fame thanks to his ability to dodge traffic on both the San Diego (405) and the Hollywood (101) freeways, becoming the first puma ever known to survive such crossings to carve out a life in the Hollywood Hills. The unlikely trek was the start of P-22’s legend.

Now, nearly 10 years, countless sightings, four P-22 Day Festivals, one mural and a lion’s lifetime later, P-22’s fate is being determined by another fateful crossing. Witnesses told Patch they saw P-22 struck by a hit-and-run driver Sunday night in Los Feliz.

A weakened and wounded P-22 was captured by wildlife officials in the same area the next day and may have to be euthanized, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Officials confirmed the lion suffered a head injury consistent with being struck by a car.

As of Wednesday, a team of experts continued to treat the puma while pondering whether to euthanize him or release him to an animal sanctuary.

Patch is withholding the names of two crash witnesses at their request because they fear retribution for coming forward to report a hit-and-run driver.

The collision occurred at about 8 p.m. Sunday on busy Los Feliz Boulevard between Rowena Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard — just blocks from the lion’s home in Griffith Park, they said.

Outside the nearby Philosophical Research Society, they heard a loud noise and saw a dark sedan luxury car driving off, leaving a large animal in the street.

The pair thought maybe it was a Great Dane that had been struck, telling themselves it couldn’t be a lion on Los Feliz Boulevard.

The noise from the crash was so loud, it seemed impossible the driver didn’t notice the impact, the witnesses said.

“They definitely had to have known," a witness said. "It was such a loud sound, and it was really jarring. It was a harsh impact, and there were several cars around.”

As the car drove off, the witnesses saw an animal in the road.

“We couldn’t see his face. He definitely got creamed,” said one witness. “He stopped, but he got up and bolted.”

“We basically saw a silhouette of a large animal,” said the other witness. “I thought it was somebody’s pet that had escaped. We were concerned and went to go see if the animal was fine.”

As they followed in the animal’s footsteps toward Rowena Avenue and Avocado Street, they came face-to-face with the wounded lion. He lurched out of the courtyard of an apartment building and slunk past just three feet away, said the witnesses.

“He wasn’t aggressive. We were right there. It didn’t feel like a life-threatening situation. He seemed scared if anything," one witness said. "We saw its collar and realized it was P-22.”

Describing the encounter as surreal, the pair said they weren’t sure what to do or who to tell about the incident.

“We just hope for the best and that he is given the best medical treatment and is not euthanized,” said one of the witnesses.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials confirmed via P-22’s tracking collar that he was in the area where the witnesses saw him struck by a car.

“There was a report of a vehicle striking a mountain lion in the Los Feliz area. It may have been P-22 as his collar data suggests he was in the area at that time, but no one has come forward to report an accident, therefore we cannot confirm he was hit by a car at this time,” the department said in a written release, adding, that P-22 “has a right eye injury, most consistent with recent vehicular trauma.”

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the incident is not necessarily a crime.

“It is a hit and run if you can determine the animal’s owner,” said LAPD Officer Warren Moore.“It’s not a crime because there is no owner of the animal.”

Vehicles have been among one of the leading causes of death for lions trying to survive in Los Angeles.

"Ever since we began our study of mountain lions in the Santa Monicas in 2002, road crossings have posed a significant risk to these animals, and 33 have been killed by vehicles in our study area," said Ashton Hooker, acting public affairs officer for the National Park Service.

Underweight and dehydrated, P-22 is currently recovering at a veterinary clinic where he was given an IV treatment and antibiotics for his eye injury. He will undergo a CT scan to further assess the eye injury, and it could be a few weeks before officials decide what to do with him.

“A decision on his outcome will depend on the extent of his health issues, his response to treatments and his behavioral comfort in human care,” state wildlife officials announced. “Following a complete evaluation by an expert wildlife health team, CDFW and (National park Service) will make the most humane decision for P-22. All options are still on the table.”

Officials on Tuesday warned that he may need to be put down, or he could be sent to a wildlife sanctuary. However, they warned, animals who spend their lives in the wild don’t tend to thrive in captivity.

P-22 hasn’t seemed himself in recent weeks. He’s been wandering into densely populated areas in Silver Lake and Los Feliz, and “there were a number of incidents where he chased, and in some cases, attacked dogs that were in close proximity to people. This was not something that had been seen during the first 10 years of tracking him, and it is something that is rare for mountain lions generally,” according to wildlife officials. “P-22 is old for a wild cat and these behavioral changes, along with evidence of physical changes, could be indicative of difficulty continuing to thrive in the wild.”

"Nobody is taking that kind of decision lightly,'' California Department of Fish and Wildlife Deputy Communications Director Jordan Traverso told reporters in a videoconference Tuesday.

"Everybody understands ... the importance of this animal to the community and to California. And so if that kind of decision has to be made, I just want everybody to understand that it's not something that's taken lightly. It's very deeply thought about. And if something like that does happen, we recognize the sadness of it."

Dubbed the "Brad Pitt of mountain lions" (he’s famous, he photographs well and he’s single) the celebrity cat thrilled and terrified residents earlier this year when he strolled down Silver Lake Boulevard to Berkeley Circle.

A video widely shared on social media shows the cat walking down the sidewalk at 7 p.m. past cars and headlights, and lounging beside trash cans.

As his fame grew, he inspired the P-22 Festival and was periodically spotted around the city, even making his home underneath a Los Feliz house in 2015.

A year earlier, P-22 was afflicted with a serious case of mange believed to be linked to the ingestion of rat poison, but in time, he recovered.

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The decision to capture P-22 was met with praise from wildlife advocates.

"We must recognize when the limits of this unconnected space have been reached, and take action to ensure the well-being of P-22 and the community," Beth Pratt, California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, said in a written release.

"P-22 has always been in an unprecedented situation. Never has a mountain lion lived in such an urban setting in one of the world’s most populated cities. He is also a remarkably old mountain lion, living well past the normal life expectancy of his kind, and may now be exhibiting signs of distress," added Pratt. "Although he has always been impacted by the isolation the freeways caused him, as P-22 has aged, the challenges associated with living on an island of habitat seem to be increasing and the scientists are noting a recent change in his behavior."

SEE ALSO:

• Famous P-22 Mountain Lion Goes For Walk Deep In The City
• Famous Griffith Park Mountain Lion Shacks Up in Mansion's Crawl Space
• Celebrity Cougar P-22 Receives New Collar, Status Update
• Lion Becomes Instant Legend For Crossing The 405 Freeway
• It's A Girl! Meet LA's Newest Mountain Lion
• Mountain Lion Killed Trying to Cross the Freeway
• P-22 Mountain Lion To Be Featured In Nature Mural In Watts
• Gavin Newsom To Speak At Mountain Lion P-22 Festival

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.