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The mountain lion was caught within the Tesla’s headlights. Vladimir Polumiskov moved each rapidly and slowly, not wanting to attract undesirable consideration.
He put his 2-year-old son again within the automobile seat and obtained behind the wheel and quietly closed the door. His spouse, Anastasiia Prokopenko, was within the passenger seat; she couldn’t consider what they had been seeing.
“No means. No means,” she mentioned. “Get within the automobile. Get within the automobile.”
The household, simply again from a sushi dinner on Tuesday evening, had pulled right into a parking house at their residence advanced off Barham Boulevard within the Hollywood Hills. Residing on the western fringe of Griffith Park, they had been accustomed to seeing wildlife — coyotes, bobcats, deer, foxes — wandering into their yard. However a mountain lion was excessive.
“We’re not getting out,” Prokopenko mentioned.
Lower than 13 toes away, the cat was sitting on the low-angled trunk of an oak tree, partly hidden by weeds, his blond coat set off by the intense lights. Polumiskov, 30, reached for his cellphone and began taking pictures video.
“This man was big,” he mentioned.
Although the sighting has not been confirmed by the Nationwide Park Service, which oversees the Santa Monica Mountains Nationwide Recreation Space and has additionally studied wildlife within the 4,000 acres of Griffith Park, the potential for a mountain lion making its house on this island wilderness might give many Angelenos a way of déjà vu another time.
The mountain-lion king of Griffith Park — a cat generally known as P-22 — roamed these hills for 10 years. Captured in December 2022, he was euthanized after a group of medical doctors decided that due to inside accidents and an infection, he was too sick to return to the wild.
A couple of months earlier than, Polumiskov mentioned he had seen P-22 skulking by way of the identical car parking zone earlier than operating off. “I had the identical response then,” he mentioned. “That doesn’t change. It was stunning.”
“Los Angeles misses P-22,” mentioned Beth Pratt of the Nationwide Wildlife Federation, maybe his most ardent champion.
In February 2023, Pratt helped arrange on the Greek Theatre a sold-out celebration of his inconceivable life in Griffith Park, drawing greater than 6,000 folks eager to pay their respects to the charismatic cat who, surrounded by improvement, freeways and cemeteries, lived peaceably within the middle of Los Angeles.
Seven months later, the eighth annual official P-22 Day pageant drew 15,000 attendees.
When Pratt first heard of this new sighting, she felt barely overcome.
“It does my coronary heart good,” she mentioned . “It felt like P-22 had despatched somebody again to us — simply to maintain the hope alive that we hadn’t totally banished the wildness in our lives.”
The Nationwide Park Service, which has reviewed Polumiskov’s video, is taking the declare significantly, in line with spokesperson Ana Beatriz Cholo.
The park service has been finding out the mountain lion inhabitants within the Santa Monica Mountains since 2002, when it collared its first cougar, which was given the title P-1 (P is for puma). Since then, it has tracked and collared 121 of the animals all through the park.
If collared, the large cat in final week’s video can be P-122.
Video of a mountain lion noticed on Tuesday close to Barnham Boulevard in Toluca Hills, new Hollywood. (Vladmir Polumisko)
“I’m a scientist at coronary heart, however there’s something nearly mystical about this,” mentioned Pratt, referring to the coincidental chance that the 2 cats in Griffith Park would share so related a quantity.
Park Service researchers are conducting interviews and brushing by way of footage from wildlife cameras positioned all through Griffith Park.
“We clearly wish to be sure that we affirm that is the actual factor,” Cholo mentioned. “Hopefully we’ll get that within the close to future.”
However hope apart, she added, there isn’t a assure that the mountain lion will stick round. Pumas want as much as 200 sq. miles of habitat, and Griffith Park provides slightly greater than eight.
After taking pictures the video, Polumiskov put the Tesla in reverse and located one other parking house far-off from the mountain lion. Two hours later, he returned with a buddy, and the cat was nonetheless there.
“He was nonetheless sitting in that tree, taking a look at us,” he mentioned. “He’s a wonderful, stunning animal, younger and wholesome, maybe the most important mountain lion I’ve seen in my life.”
4 months earlier, Polumiskov had seen — whereas driving — what he believed was additionally a mountain lion. However with out proof, his household and buddies doubted him. Now he had one thing extra tangible.
The subsequent day, he obtained a name from Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist and mountain lion specialist with the park service, who requested him a number of easy questions — the place and when — and reminded him to play it secure.
“He positively educated me,” Polumiskov mentioned.
“Whereas it’s thrilling to see a wild animal,” mentioned Cholo, “should you see a mountain lion, give it house. Don’t observe it. As tempting because it is perhaps, this can be a massive cat and its habits might be unpredictable.”
The whole variety of mountain lions in California is estimated to be between 3,200 and 4,500. A couple of dozen of the cats are mentioned to reside within the Santa Monica Mountains, and they’re in danger for extinction due to low genetic variety.
The present building of a wildlife hall over a 10-lane stretch of the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills guarantees to be a essential lifeline for the endangered species. When accomplished in 2026, it is going to be the biggest — 200 toes lengthy and 165 toes vast — and most costly bridge of its type on the earth.
“The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is essential” for the survival of the species, Pratt mentioned . “However Griffith Park additionally wants secure routes for its wildlife making an attempt to navigate the town.”
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