Mountain lion in Southern California study killed by vehicle

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A mountain lion that was part of a National Park Service study was fatally struck by a vehicle on a highway near Southern California’s Santa Monica Mountains.

The 2-year-old male cougar, dubbed P-89, was found dead early Monday on a shoulder along U.S. 101 in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area said in a statement.

P-89 was outfitted with a radio tracking collar by biologists who are studying how the big cats live in habitat fragmented by urban sprawl, barriers that limit genetic diversity and with hazards ranging from poisons to roads and freeways.

The statement said P-89 was the fourth mountain lion in the study killed by vehicles this year within the research area, which includes the Santa Monica range, Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains, Verdugo Mountains and Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

P-89 was in a litter of three during the summer of 2020.

P-89’s brother, P-90, is still alive and successfully crossed U.S. 101 near Camarillo last month, leaving the Santa Monica Mountains, the statement said. P-90’s GPS locations show that he has been wandering in Los Padres National Forest. The whereabouts of their sister, P-88, is unknown.