Local celebrity mountain lion P-22 has safely returned to his home in Griffith Park after an excursion to Silver Lake— the farthest south he’d ever ventured.
“We’re happy to report he’s made it back to his regular stomping grounds in Griffith Park,” Santa Monica Mountains officials said Thursday.
The National Park Service has been tracking P-22 for about 10 years and saw that he had passed through Silver Lake on Tuesday night, exciting residents who shared images of their mountain lion sightings on social media.
One resident said she saw the big cat in her backyard. Another captured video of the cougar in someone’s driveway.
The 12-year-old cougar is no stranger to traveling long distances.
It is believed that P-22 was born in the Santa Monica Mountains, and that he crossed the 101 and the 405 freeways years ago to get to Griffith Park.
The mountain lion is sometimes spotted in urban areas near the park, and has even previously been found in a basement in Los Feliz, NPS Santa Monica Public Affairs Officer Ana Beatriz Cholo said.
But this was the first time the Park Service has tracked him in Silver Lake, according to Cholo.
It is very rare for mountain lions to venture into neighborhoods, according to a recent long-term National Park Service study.
But the study did find that P-22 and another mountain lion, P-41 in the Verdugo Mountains, have wandered into residential areas more than other GPS-collared big cats studied.
Cholo urged anyone who encounters P-22 in their neighborhood to give him space.
“Don’t try to get that selfie with him,” Cholo said.