A mountain lion that was struck and killed by a vehicle on the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway near the Los Angeles/Ventura county line was identified Thursday as a female that had three 6-month-old now-orphaned kittens.
The National Park Service has been studying and tracking the dead animal as part of the agency’s program to track mountain lions in and around the Santa Monica Mountains. That NPS program started in 2002.
The dead lion, known as P-39, was believed to be about 5 years old, and was fitted with a GPS collar in April 2015. She is known to have had at least two litters of kittens, including the three 6-month-old kittens known as P-50, P-51 and P-52, according to the NPS. It wasn’t clear if officials will try to arrange for the safety out of the wild of the orphaned kittens.
P-39 had generally stayed in the area north of the 118 Freeway, but she crossed the freeway a few days before she was struck and killed on the roadway on Dec. 3 just east of the Rocky Peak exit. It’s unclear if the kittens were with her when she was struck.
The lion’s death was not reported to the NPS until several days after it was struck. The animal’s remains, which were apparently disposed of before NPS researchers were contacted, have not been located. But P-39’s damaged GPS collar was found near the freeway median, according to the Park Service.
P-39 is the 13th known case of a lion being struck and killed on a freeway or road in the NPS study region since 2002. The area’s lion population is largely penned in by freeways and urban development, leading to at least one report estimating the species could die off within 50 years.
—City News Service