“We’re sorry to report that P-74, the latest mountain lion that we captured as part of our mountain lion study, likely did not survive the Woolsey Fire,” the National Park Service announced.
The NPS press release states that the last GPS signal from his radio collar was recorded at 1 p.m. on Friday, November 9, in a remote area of the Santa Monica Mountains between Yerba Buena Road and Mulholland Highway, the same day the Woolsey Fire moved into the central portion of the Santa Monica Mountains.
“Our biologists also went into the field and searched by foot, but had no luck,” the NPS report stated. We believe that he had not yet dispersed from his mother who was not radio-collared. We discovered from remote cameras in late October that he was still traveling with her.”
P-74, was only around one year of age, still not old enough to survive on his own. It is unclear whether his mother survived the fire.
All of the other 12 mountain lions in the study program have all survived, including P-22, the Griffith Park mountain lion who escaped a separate much smaller wildfire in Griffith Park.
More information on the cats and the study program is available at nps.gov/samo