“P-22 is a celebrity but he’s not a success story. He’s also a poster child for what’s going wrong here with mountain lions and in some respects all wildlife,” says Beth Pratt, the California director for the National Wildlife Federation and leader of the #SaveLAsCougars campaign.
“LA is known for its infamous freeways. One of the things that’s happening with P-22 and his relatives is they are likely going to go extinct in the Santa Monica mountains and LA area, especially the population south of the 101 freeway. The reason they’re going to go extinct is that they cannot get across these roadways to find mates outside their family so their genetic diversity is collapsing. These guys need to be able to move freely across this landscape,” Pratt says, explaining the importance of the Liberty Canyon project.
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