Mountain lion P-81 was killed Sunday on Pacific Coast Freeway, most likely struck by a automobile, the Nationwide Park Service introduced.
The 4-year-old male cougar’s stays have been collected on PCH close to Las Posas Highway in Ventura County. The California Division of Fish and Wildlife will carry out a necropsy to verify the reason for dying.
The cat was first captured within the western Santa Monica Mountains in March 2020 and offered researchers with proof that the mountain lion inhabitants within the area was experiencing issues.
P-81 was “vital in our mountain lion research resulting from his bodily abnormalities — a kinked tail the place the top is formed just like the letter ‘L’ and just one descended testicle,” the park service stated.
The abnormalities have been the primary items of bodily proof of potential inbreeding and a scarcity of genetic variety within the mountain lion inhabitants.
The findings elevated the “urgency of understanding, sustaining, and growing connectivity for wildlife within the area,” the park service stated.
The at present under-construction Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills is aimed toward permitting the cats freer rein to maneuver concerning the area and join with lion populations to the north.
P-81’s dying comes a bit of over a month after the enduring P-22 was euthanized after he suffered extreme accidents, together with a cranium fracture, principally possible from a automobile.
With P-81’s possible dying by automobile strike, the whole variety of cougars hit and killed by vehicles since March 2022 rises to 9, the park service stated.