The fate of Hollywood’s best known mountain lion hangs in the balance as wildlife experts weigh if the wild cat should be euthanised after it was believed to be struck and injured in a car accident.
The wild cat P-22, which was captured by wildlife officials after it raised concerns for hunting down a leashed chihuahua dog in Hollywood Hills, was found to be drastically underweight in its health examination on Tuesday.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that the cat had an eye injury, probably after being hit by a car and they would conduct more tests to determine if the animal had additional head trauma.
The findings have drawn experts to weigh if the cat could be sent to an animal sanctuary or euthanised as it might not be released back into the wild.
“Nobody is taking that kind of decision lightly,” spokesperson Jordan Traverso said during a videoconference.
He added the agency understands “the importance of this animal to the community and to California,” and “we recognize the sadness of it.”
P-22 was captured and tranquilised on Monday in the trendy Los Feliz neighbourhood near his usual haunt of Griffith Park, an island of wilderness and picnic areas in the midst of the Los Angeles urban sprawl.
It was captured after wildlife officials raised concerns that the cat “may be exhibiting signs of distress”, due in part to old age, and wanted to study it for its well being.
The big cat made the sprawling Griffith Park its home for more than a decade and was often recorded on security cameras wandering across the freeways and residential areas of LA.
The animal is estimated to be the oldest South California cougar, currently at the age of 12, making it the oldest Southern California cougar currently being studied. Most mountain lions live for about a decade.
“This is an old cat, and old cats get old-cat diseases,” Deana Clifford, the senior wildlife veterinarian with the department said. “Any of us who had cats at home have seen this.”
“We’re working through all of those issues and we’ll take a totality of the findings into account to try to make the best decision we can for the cat,” she said.
She added that a computerised tomography scan is scheduled for later this week to look into other possible chronic health issues that may have caused his decline.
The cat had to cross two major freeways to reach Griffith Park and became the face of the campaign to build a wildlife crossing over a Los Angeles-area freeway to give big cats, coyotes, deer and other wildlife a safe path.
The ground was broken this year on the bridge which will stretch 200ft and construction is expected to finish by early 2025.
