Mountain Lion Killed On PCH, 1st Roadway Death Of 2023

MALIBU, CA — A mountain lion was found dead on the Pacific Coast Highway just west of Malibu on Jan. 22, Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area officials announced Friday.

The 4-year-old male lion, P-81, was tagged in March 2020 as part of the Santa Monica Mountains puma tracking project. P-81's body was discovered by California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials near Las Posas Road in the western Santa Monica Mountains and officials believe he was likely killed after being struck by a vehicle.

Officials said a necropsy will be performed to confirm whether P-81 was struck by a vehicle.

Park officials said P-81 was significant to the mountain lion study due to his physical abnormalities such as his kinked, L-shaped tail and only one descended testicle.

"These abnormalities were the first physical evidence of potential inbreeding depression due to lack of genetic diversity since we began studying mountain lions in 2002, increasing the urgency of understanding, maintaining, and increasing connectivity for wildlife in the region," Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area officials said.

P-81's death comes just over a month after the more-famous P-22 — known as the "Hollywood Cat" — was euthanized on Dec. 17.

P-22, who famously crossed by the Ventura (101) and San Diego (405) freeways before taking up a longterm residence in Griffith Park, had been captured in a Los Feliz backyard in a severely underweight and injuredcondition. It's believed P-22 was also the victim of a vehicle strike, accounting for his injuries. He was believed to be about 11 or 12 years old.

Vehicle strikes are the leading cause of death for pumas in the study area, officials said. P-81 is the first recorded mountain lion death announced in 2023 and the ninth since March 2022. Since 2002, 34 mountain lions have died from road mortalities including P-81 according to Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area officials.

“It’s heartbreaking to see yet another mountain lion die in the Santa Monica Mountains just a week before the celebration of life for P-22,” said J.P. Rose, a policy director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “P-81 was already showing signs of inbreeding depression with a kinked tail. That he was killed by a car reminds us that we desperately need to build more wildlife crossings to reverse the extinction vortex affecting local mountain lions.”

Currently under construction in Agoura Hills, officials said The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a major and critical step to helping prevent more roadway deaths for mountain lions in the area. The crossing will connect wildlife populations in the Santa Monica Mountains, such as mountain lions, with other populations to the north.

Construction on the crossing is projected to be finished in 2025.

City News Service contributed to this report.