He’s a front-page sensation now, but there’s a less told story about L.A.’s celebrity mountain lion P-22, which predates his almost impossible leap to stardom.
P-22 grabbed the attention of many only after amazing photographs of the majestic puma standing in front of the iconic Hollywood sign were taken by National Geographic photographer Steve Winter in late 2013. Patience, experience and a plethora of expensive camera and lighting equipment is what it took to get those shots. However, the most significant photo — P-22’s Schwab’s Pharmacy discovery moment — was the one taken long before that. P-22’s story began five years ago this week, on Feb. 12, 2012.
The Griffith Park Connectivity Study, largely funded by the nonprofit Friends of Griffith Park, was launched in mid-2011, with the purchase of 13 wildlife cameras. The cameras soon documented deer, bobcats and coyotes crossing via one of the overpass bridges of the Hollywood Freeway in Cahuenga Pass. Then wildlife biologist Miguel Ordeñana, poring over hundreds of motion-triggered photos, could not believe his eyes when he saw a photo taken on February 12, 2012 of the hind quarters of a male mountain lion on a rugged ridgeline just above Ford Theatre! After taking a second, a third and a fourth look, he thought, “Oh my God,” and grabbed the phone to share the news with fellow biologists involved in the study. And a star was born.
Ordeñana, who grew up in Los Feliz, fixated on Griffith Park’s wildlife as a youngster. When he began his career as a wildlife biologist, little did he know that he would soon take a photo that would alter the world’s understanding of how urban populations can coexist with wildlife. His photo — the first photographic evidence of a mountain lion in Griffith Park — taken as part of the Griffith Park Connectivity Study, discovered P-22 and changed Los Angeles forever.
Friends of Griffith Park challenged the idea that Griffith Park, the largest urban park in the country, was an “island” with no movement of wildlife in or out. In fact the “island” argument was used in some Environmental Impact Reports for projects. How could anyone make that assertion if no one had ever studied it? Earlier, it had been discovered that no one was keeping track of all the natural wonders in the park. In truth, until 2007, scientific baselines for Griffith Park were nearly nonexistent. The city of Los Angeles was not able to produce any species lists whatsoever when a master plan was being rewritten in 2005. There were more records of flora and fauna from the 1920s than from the last 60 years!
Founding members of Friends of Griffith Park scraped together private funds and launched the first of a series of science surveys and studies, the Griffith Park Natural History Survey. Ten years hence, this collective ranges from reptiles to mammals, from mushrooms to rare flowers, from bats to squirrel genetics.
With an increasing awareness of the importance of genetic diversity for sustainability of wildlife populations, the organization decided that taking a scientific look at connectivity was important, too, resulting in the Griffith Park Connectivity Study.
P-22, with us now for five years, has become our teacher. He has given us lessons about man’s coexistence with wildlife in an urban setting. He has taught us that wildlife abounds in this city and has no borders at any park’s edge. Nor a freeway, with luck on your side! He gave us the horrifying lesson that rodenticides (rat poison) kills wildlife and even his own species. And when he visited the Los Angeles Zoo, P-22 taught us the difficult and hard-earned lesson that coexistence with wildlife requires us to be aware and cautious, and to take full responsibility to protect ourselves, our animal charges and our pets.
P-22 is the unlikely and inspirational teacher that woke up this city — and our nation — to the fact that as urban dwellers, we live in an amazingly biodiverse zone. His message translates to all other wildlife species in other communities everywhere. And thanks to P-22, now there is a new sense of interest, tolerance and respect for our native wildlife.
Gerry Hans is president of the nonprofit Friends of Griffith Park. He holds a degree in biology from the University of Illinois,
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