The death of P-22, our resident beloved celebrity mountain lion, was such a HUGE story locally that it prompted a memorial for the public held at the Greek Theatre and streamed online.
Now, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is looking for a way to honor P-22's legacy. After all, it's because of his amazing story of crossing two very busy freeways to eventually settle in Griffith Park for 10 years that sparked the push for the $90 million Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing project currently under construction over the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills. The goal of the crossing is to help other wildlife navigate the area safely so they can find food and a mate which helps to prevent them from inbreeding.
The board is calling for support for additional wildlife crossings, the creation of a U.S. postage stamp that will spread P-22's story across the country and bans on pesticides that are sickening and killing the animals.
The pesticide thing is really important because people don't realize that when they use rat poisons it moves up the food chain. Rats, mice, racoons and possums eat the pesticides and when the mountain lions eat those animals that rat poison enters their organs, suppressing their immunity to things like mange, which generally wouldn't be fatal, but with a suppressed immunity can be.
The Board of Supervisors is asking the state to ban "first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides" or FGARs, developed before 1970. A state bill, AB1788, which became law in 2020, banned the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide (SGARs), but FGARs are not prohibited.
Jennifer spoke to Beth Pratt, National Wildlife Federation California Regional Executive Director this morning all about the idea of banning these pesticides and honoring P-22.