P-22’s journey became driving force behind world’s largest wildlife crossing
Los Angeles plans to memorialize P-22, the mountain lion who crossed about 10 lanes of freeway traffic to reach Griffith Park, with a bronze sculpture at the park’s visitor center. The National Wildlife Federation, which championed the project through its Safe LA Cougars campaign, announced the memorial. Private philanthropy paid for the work.
Likely born in the Santa Monica Mountains, P-22 made his way to the 4,200-acre (1,700-hectare) Griffith Park by crossing about 10 lanes of traffic on Los Angeles’s famously gridlocked freeways. Known as “P-22” — a number assigned by the team of biologists that first identified him — the lion gained national fame after photographer Steve Winter captured an iconic image of him prowling through Griffith Park with the Hollywood sign in the background. The GPS-collared lion attracted a devoted following in Los Angeles, where his moves often became the subject of local news coverage.
The sculpture, by Los Angeles artist Adam Matano, will show a muscular P-22 stepping from a podium decorated with images of animals native to southern California onto a second perch featuring reproductions of local flora. Matano said in a statement that he tried to capture “the idea of the wild entering Los Angeles and awakening the city to the nature already within it.” He aimed to transform P-22 “into a king not because he dominated the territory but rather because he lived according to his own nature and captured the heart of a city.”
P-22’s journey became a driving force behind the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing, slated to open in December and billed as the world’s largest wildlife crossing. The project promises to improve genetic diversity in the Santa Monica Mountains, where cougars show signs of inbreeding.
Wildlife officials euthanized P-22 in December 2022 after he attacked a leashed dog and began showing signs of declining health likely precipitated by a vehicle strike. They estimated his age at 12 years old.