New LA Mountain Lion Alert! Say Hi To P-75

Here's some pawsitive news for your Tuesday -- Los Angeles has a new puma/mountain lion/cougar.

The young female, now christened P-75, was spotted Monday morning up a tree in a Pacific Palisades mobile home park, according to officials with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.

The 50-pound cougar was tranquilized by CADFW officers and NPS biologists, fitted with an ear tag and GPS collar, and safely released into the Santa Monica Mountains (Courtesy California Department of Fish & Wildlife)

The 50-pound cougar was "safely tranquilized and removed by (CADFW) officers and NPS biologists," CADFW officials said. Researchers fitted her with an ID ear tag and GPS collar, then released her into the Santa Monica Mountains.

As her designated number suggests, P-75 is the 75th mountain lion to join the study overall. She's the tenth puma currently active in the Santa Monica Mountains, though two other cougars, P-22 and P-35, are being studied in Griffith Park and the Santa Susana Mountains, respectively.

P-75 has a lot to look out for in her increasingly challenging habitat.

There's the potential for turf wars with other mountain lions, and also the human-caused threat of being hit by a car on the freeway. Freeways also threaten pumas' ability to travel for genetically diverse mating. Then there's the risk of mange and other health dangers via rat poison introduced into the food chain, an introduction made by -- you guessed it -- humans.

Good luck out there, P-75. We're all rooting for you.

The young female, now christened P-75, was spotted Monday morning up a tree in a Pacific Palisades mobile home park. (Courtesy California Department of Fish & Wildlife)