P-22 Mountain Lion Festival, LA (10/22)

Fiona Ng, LAist.com, Oct. 21, 2023; Xochitl, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A mountain lion stalks by hillside homes in the LA suburbs. Long live P-22 (Johanna Turner).

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Nearly a year after its death, the Mountain Lion Spirit of P-22 lives on in Los Angeles

I thought I loved my cat. I love this one!

This Sunday (10/22/23), Griffith Park is celebrating its most influential transplant: LA's Lion King.

It's a native son who made the trek from the Santa Monica Mountains to its new digs by crossing the 101 and 405 Freeways — and in so doing inspired Los Angeles to dream the impossible dream of building the world's biggest freeway overpass for animals to use, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.

"We were told we were crazy, and here we are. It's underway," said Beth Pratt. "It actually started because of the P-22 story and the effect it had on me."

A drawing of a bridge for wildlife to cross over a busy freeway A rendering of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, slated for completion in 2025 (National Wildlife Foundation).

Pratt leads the Save LA Cougars campaign, which helps support efforts to get the historic wildlife crossing built.

The organization is also behind the annual P-22 Day Festival at Griffith Park, where all of Los Angeles is invited to celebrate the city's urban wildlife and its titular king.

LA's Lion King

P-22 Day Festival, Oct. 22 (urbanwildlifeweek.org)

Like the majority of the city, Pratt first heard about P-22 in 2012, shortly after she started working with the National Wildlife Federation.

"I couldn't believe the headlines I was reading that a mountain lion had made a home in Griffith Park," she said.

She learned from biologists working in the area about the plight of P-22 — having arrived after a treacherous journey in Griffith Park only to be trapped there.

"It wasn't just P-22, there were mountain lions all around the Santa Monica Mountains that were facing the same struggle. I asked that day how I could help."

Beth Pratty, Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing

More than a decade later, Pratt and Save LA Cougars have raised some $100 millions toward the construction of the wildlife crossing near the Liberty Canyon exit on the 101 Freeway.

The project broke ground last year. Currently, Caltrans crews are putting up the support system on both sides of the freeway for the bridge to be placed across early next year. The entire crossing is set for completion in 2025. Source (LAist.com) laist.com/news

[Let's kill P-22 then feel sorry for it, like we did the Native Americans, the Palestinians, and most of the other wildlife that used to roam wild throughout the basin, from the foothills to the bay.]