Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

Climate and Environment

Another Mountain Lion Is Killed On A Southern California Road

A mountain lion walks toward a camera with brush behind it.
A still image from video of P-54 captured in 2018
(
Courtesy National Park Service
)

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . 

We've lost another local mountain lion.

The National Park Service says the adult female puma — known as P-54 — was struck and killed by a vehicle on Las Virgenes Road in the area of Malibu Creek State Park.

The location is close to where her mom — P-23 — is believed to have suffered the same fate more than four years ago.

A statement on the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Instagram account said biologists "were alerted by the Agoura Animal Shelter that a radio-collared mountain lion had been killed" at about 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Support for LAist comes from

P-54 is the 29th mountain lion killed by a vehicle in the Santa Monica mountains and beyond in the last two decades.

She had been tracked with a radio collar since shortly after she was born in January 2017, park officials said. She gave birth to two litters in 2020, although park officials said it appears the first litter of three kittens born in May did not survive.

Earlier this year, one of P-54's cubs born later that year — P-97 — was killed on the 405 freeway. That happened the day before the groundbreaking ceremony for a wildlife crossing over the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills.

The image on the left shows Highway 101 with a smattering of cars on it, cutting through the Santa Monica foothills. The image on the right shows what it will look like with a bridge for animals crossing it, grass and other vegetation connecting both sides.
Highway 101, carved across the the Santa Monica Mountains northern foothills, "has become this impenetrable wall for wildlife," according to Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation. The image on the right illustrates a 200-foot long bridge crossing in the works.
(
Nate Rott
/
NPR; National Wildlife Federation and Living Habitats
)
Support for LAist comes from

From our coverage of that groundbreaking:

The Liberty Canyon Wildlife Corridor will span the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills. Superhighways like the 101 and 405 slice through the natural environments of Southern California wildlife.

The Center for Biological Diversity is sponsoring the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act, a bill that would prioritize crossings and other infrastructure projects to improve wildlife connectivity.

"It's one thing to sort of put stats up on a board," Beth Pratt, with the National Wildlife Federation told LAist in March when another cougar, P-104 was killed on PCH. "It's another one to see a mangled, dead, magnificent creature laid low by a vehicle. This is suffering on a grand scale, and when a mountain lion and a car meet, the car is gonna win."

At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.

But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.

We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.

Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist