Days after being captured for a health evaluation, the famous mountain lion P-22 was euthanized. Darsha Philips reports for the NBC4 News on Dec. 17, 2022.
P-22, the beloved mountain lion, was euthanized on Saturday morning days after being captured for a health evaluation, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.
According to his health evaluation, P-22 had several severe injuries and chronic health problems. He was significantly underweight and had an eye injury that made officials believe he may have been hit by a car recently.
Compassionate euthanasia under general anesthesia was unanimously recommended by the medical team at San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
The mountain lion’s health evaluation included a physical exam, organ function tests, infectious disease screening, ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) scans of the skull, chest and abdomen.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
“The results of these tests and screenings showed significant trauma to the mountain lion’s head, right eye and internal organs, confirming the suspicion of recent injury, such as a vehicle strike. The trauma to his internal organs would require invasive surgical repair,” the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
Officials said P-22 also had significant pre-existing illnesses, including irreversible kidney disease, chronic weight loss, extensive parasitic skin infection over his entire body and localized arthritis.
Wildlife officials announced early this month that they planned to capture the mountain lion to conduct a health evaluation.
“Mountain lion P-22 has had an extraordinary life and captured the hearts of the people of Los Angeles and beyond. The most difficult, but compassionate choice was to respectfully minimize his suffering and stress by humanely ending his journey,” the CDFW said.
P-22 was captured on Monday in the backyard of a Los Feliz home, an area where the mountain lion had been spotted before.
Back in September, P-22 was caught on camera drinking water from a sprinkler back in a Los Feliz neighborhood during a heat wave that was sweeping across Southern California.
"P-22’s survival on an island of wilderness in the heart of Los Angeles captivated people around the world and revitalized efforts to protect our diverse native species and ecosystems," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
For the last 10 years, the National Park Service has been studying how mountain lions live and survive.
P-22 was 11 years old, which made him the oldest cat the NPS was studying. The oldest mountain lion the NPS has documented was P-001, who was approximately 12 years old.
Although there are over a hundred mountain lions that have been part of the NPS study in the Santa Monica Mountains and the surrounding region, P-22 was the only mountain lion tracked via GPS in the Griffith Park area.
That was something that made P-22 quite unique since that meant he crossed the 405 and 101 freeways.
“His journey of him crossing the 405 Freeway, then going through a sea of urbanization and fancy neighborhoods like Bel Air, Beverly Hills, then crossing another 10 lane freeway, the 101, really is a reminder the plight of all our local mountain lions the lack of connectivity out here and how dangerous these roads are,” Miguel Ordeñana of the National History Museum, said.
“I am so grateful I was given the opportunity to say goodbye to P-22. Although I have advocated for his protection for a decade, we had never met before. I sat near him, looking into his eyes for a few minutes, and told him he was a good boy,” Beth Pratt, California Regional Director for the National Wildlife Federation, said.
