What the Death of P-22 Means for Los Angeles, And How His Life Can Teach Us To Better Care For Our Big Cats
P-22, the mountain lion that became a celebrity symbol of Los Angeles, was euthanized on Saturday. “Biologists and veterinarians with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today they have made the difficult decision to end P-22’s suffering and help him transition peacefully to the next place," Beth Pratt, regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, said in her eulogy for her friend. P-22 was believed to be about 12 years old — an unusually long life for a puma. His death comes after he was captured in the backyard of a Los Feliz home on Dec. 12. A string of worrying behavior first indicated a possible decline in the cat’s health. Pratt said on Saturday that vets released a list of "serious health issues they had uncovered from all their testing," including stage two kidney failure, head and eye trauma, a hernia causing abdominal organs to fill his chest cavity, heart disease, and more. But P-22’s legacy, and the lessons his life taught us about how humanity can coexist with these big cats as our footprint gets bigger and their habitat gets smaller will live on far beyond his lifetime.
Today on AirTalk, we’ll remember P-22 with Beth Pratt, regional executive director with the National Wildlife Federation, and Seth Riley, wildlife branch chief for the National Park Service at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Read KPCC and LAist’s full obituary on P-22 here.
DOC AMA: How To Avoid Potential Infections For COVID-19 & Other Infectious Diseases This Holiday Season
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center.
Topics today include:
- COVID case numbers in L.A. County stabilize, but post-Christmas wave still possible
- L.A. County hospital beds at lowest availability since pandemic began
- White House restarting free COVID test program
- California has plenty of anti-COVID drugs, but doctors aren’t prescribing them
- Long Covid Has Played Role in More Than 3,500 Deaths in U.S., C.D.C. Says
- German study looking at potential connection between mRNA vaccines and heart damage in patients who died after receiving vaccine.
We Are Airing Live Coverage Of Today's January 6th Committee Hearing
AirTalk will air live NPR coverage of the House Select Committee's hearing on the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol from 10 am to 11 am.
