Mountain lion found dead on Pacific Coast Highway near Las Posas Road

A mountain lion found dead Sunday on Pacific Coast Highway near Las Posas Road may mark the ninth such death in less than a year.

The National Park Service identified the cougar as P-81, a 4-year-old mountain lion tracked as part of a long-term study on how the population in Ventura and Los Angeles counties survives in an increasingly urban area. 

P-81 was found on PCH near the western Santa Monica Mountains, likely struck by a vehicle. A necropsy would be performed to confirm the cougar’s cause of death, officials said.

Nine mountain lions — including six radio-collared cougars — have died on local roads and highways since last March.

P-81 was around 1 ½ years old when he was captured and collared in the Santa Monicas in 2020. He had a kinked tail and reproductive abnormalities that scientists believed marked the first physical evidence of low genetic diversity since the park service study began in 2002.

Fenced in by highways and urban development, few lions have been able to get in or out of the area, leading to inbreeding in the small, isolated group. A lack of genetic diversity can start to negatively affect survival or reproduction.

Experts say that connecting the Santa Monica Mountains to other natural areas is key to lowering the chance the mountain lion population will go extinct. A wildlife crossing over Highway 101 under construction in Agoura Hills has been called a critical step in making those connections.