Mountain lion known as P22 becomes Los Angeles celebrity

Griffith Park’s famous feline has been dubbed the ‘Brad Pitt of mountain lions’ due to his popularity

File photo: This undated photo provided by the U.S. National Park Service shows a mountain lion known as P-38, photographed in the Santa Monica Mountain range on 11 September 2019 (AP)

A mountain lion that lives in Los Angeles has become a local celebrity in the city and has inspired not just songs and murals but also an exhibit based on its life.

The lion, named P22, has now lived in the 4,000-acre Griffith Park in the Los Feliz neighbourhood of Los Angeles in California for 10 years.

The animal was first found almost a decade ago when a team from the nonprofit wildlife organisation Friends of Griffith Park was setting up camera traps in the area.

Beth Pratt, California director for the National Wildlife Federation, told The Guardian that “a city long bashed for being a concrete jungle full of smog proves the world wrong by making a home for a mountain lion.”

Ms Pratt herself has a tattoo of P22 and calls the shy lion the “Brad Pitt of mountain lions” because he is attractive, enigmatic and unlucky in love. This was because the mountain lion has plenty to eat but there is no hope of finding it a mate.

In Los Angeles, P22 is famous. Ms Pratt said if the lion was found in any other part of the country, it would have been removed. In the city, however, the animal enjoys a certain celebrity status.

In 2012, P22 left the Santa Monica mountains and set off on a 50-mile journey.

According to Friends of Griffith Park, P22 eventually found the “wilderness of Griffith Park to set up his kingdom, which, according to biologists, is probably the smallest roaming territory of any known mountain lion – about 8 square miles.”

The lion reportedly evaded freeways, traffic and human detection and eventually settled in the wilderness of Griffith Park where it was fitted with a collar to track his movements.

And ever since, P22 has captured the city’s imagination.

Gerry Hans, Friends of Griffith Park’s president, was quoted as saying: “We released a study report of the camera traps, and gently slipped it in that there was a mountain lion. There was a lot of nervousness from residents.”

Ms Pratt said: “The LA area possesses a value of coexisting with wildlife that I celebrate – people share their Ring videos of P22 making an appearance in their back yard with excitement, not fear.”

She also noted that “like many Angelenos, he’s chill, likes hanging out under the Hollywood sign, and managed to navigate the brutal traffic on the 101 and 405.”

In 2004 and 2005, the LA City’s Department of Recreation and Parks had posted mountain lion warning signs for hikers. But a sighting had not been officially documented — till P22 came along.

“P22 is somewhere between being out in the wild and in captivity,” Ms Pratt said.

“He likely is not going to ever die from interaction with other male lions.”

In 2012, news of the mountain lion being spotted in the area had made global headlines and caused widespread alarm. P22, however, has never posed any kind of danger to visitors, according to officials.