Southern California mountain lion in US study killed by car
This photo provided by the U.S. National Park Service shows a mountain lion, dubbed P-104. The young mountain lion that had just been added to a study of Southern California cougars was struck by a vehicle and killed on Pacific Coast Highway. The National Park Service says the subadult male dubbed P-104 was hit Wednesday, March 23, 2022 morning, just two weeks after he was captured and fitted with a GPS radio collar in the western portion of the Santa Monica Mountains. (NPS via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A young mountain lion that had just been added to a study of Southern California cougars was struck by a vehicle and killed on Pacific Coast Highway on Wednesday, the National Park Service said.
The subadult male, dubbed P-104, was hit just two weeks after he was captured and fitted with a GPS radio collar in the western portion of the Santa Monica Mountains.
The mountain lion had crossed PCH several times in recent days, according to social media posts by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
“P-104’s death is another tragic reminder that our roads are death traps for local mountain lions and other wildlife,” J.P. Rose, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Mountain lions in the coastal range west of Los Angeles have been studied for 20 years by biologists to determine how they survive in fragmented and urbanized habitat.
P-104 was the 25th mountain lion, and eighth collared study cat, to be killed by a vehicle since the study began in 2002. It was, however, the first documented killing of a mountain lion by a car on Pacific Coast Highway.
The park service said it is relatively rare for collared mountain lions to cross PCH.