Another mountain lion has died from an apparent vehicle collision at Santa Monica Mountains in California/NPS file
Another mountain lion that roamed the Santa Monica Mountains in California appears to have been killed by a vehicle, according to National Park Service staff. A release from Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area said P-81 was likely killed by a vehicle strike Sunday, January 22.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials collected P-81’s body on the Pacific Coast Highway near Las Posas Road in the western Santa Monica Mountains. A necropsy will be performed to confirm cause of death.
P-81 was around four years old at the time of his death. National Park Service biologists initially captured him in the western Santa Monica Mountains back in March 2020. He was significant in the park's mountain lion study due to his physical abnormalities – a kinked tail in which the end was shaped like the letter “L” and only one descended testicle. These abnormalities marked the first physical evidence of potential inbreeding depression due to a lack of genetic diversity since the Park Service began studying mountain lions in the park in 2002, increasing the urgency of understanding, maintaining, and ideally increasing connectivity for wildlife in the region.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway, currently under construction in Agoura Hills, is a major and critical step in connecting wildlife populations in the Santa Monica Mountains, including mountain lions, with other populations to the north.
Vehicle strikes are the leading cause of death for the mountain lions in the study area, according to the park. Since March 2022, nine mountain lions have died due to being hit by vehicles — six of those were radio-collared. P-81 was the 34th mountain lion, and the 13th radio-collared animal, to die from road mortality in the study area since 2002.
The National Park Service has been studying mountain lions in and around the Santa Monica Mountains for the last two decades to determine how they survive in a fragmented and urbanized environment.
