The City--and the World--Say a Tearful Goodbye to an L.A. Native... our Beloved P-22
Tonight I had a good, long, ugly cry. Not over anything sort of ordinary—not the loss of a loved one, some new personal heartache, or painful memories rearing their ugly heads—but over the passing of someone I never got to meet or see… but who nonetheless left indelible prints upon my heart. [photo credit: Steve Winter, National Geographic] Make that pawprints … for the dearly-departed in this instance is the L.A. celeb known ‘round the world as P-22. On the off-chance that you’ve somehow never heard of him, dear reader, P-22 was the shockingly long-lived, oft-seen (in public, even!) mountain lion, who called Los Angeles County his home for a decade. Or, perhaps I should say, ruled L.A. County . P-22 was still a relative youngster when I came onto the scene, some eight-and-a-half years ago, now, … but I was enchanted, immediately ( of course ) by tales— and pictorial evidence of sightings!— of this majestic male cougar. He was living ...
