TOPANGA, Calif. – Shoes laced. Collar on. Beth Pratt is ready to walk in the footsteps of a giant cat.
Believed to have been born in the Santa Monica Mountains, P-22 famously went in search of the bright lights of Hollywood and he has become quite a star. In fact, Pratt calls him “the Brad Pitt of the cougar world.”
Pratt works with the National Wildlife Federation. When she first heard P-22 had made a home for himself in Griffith Park, she hardly believed it.
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“I really had one of those life changing moments where, 'Wow! This cat is remarkable,'” Pratt said. "I just started thinking about the challenges he’s overcoming.”
From there, she took it one step further, setting out on foot to actually experience the landscape through the eyes of a mountain lion. The biggest hurdle she says is a lack of connectivity. Roads act as deadly barriers, isolating the animals or even killing them. Last month, another mountain lion, P-61, was fatally struck crossing the 405 in the same area where P-22 is believed to have crossed.
“These are holdovers from the ice age," Pratt says of the giant cats. "These animals have survived so many challenges, but they can’t survive our cars.”
Two more mountain lions were found dead recently, both with rat poison in their systems.
Research predicts inbreeding could lead the local mountain lion population to be completely extinct in about 50 years. Pratt says the situation is especially dire south of the 101 where only a handful of male mountain lions are left.
Throw in traffic, development, and the poisoning of their food chain, and she says, "You’re talking game over quicker. They are going disappear. It is a really looming threat.”
Which is why Pratt is walking the walk for the fourth year in a row. Her 50 mile journey began on Tuesday, at the future sight of the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing, where she was fitted with the tracking collar she calls her "mountain lion bling."
Between that and the plush version of her spirit animal strapped to her back, she is hard to miss and that’s the point.
“First couple years, 'Who’s that? Why do you have a mountain lion on you?' Now I walk by people, 'Hey P-22! Go P-22!,” Pratt said. "So I love how people around L.A. recognize him now, and not just like him as a celebrity but want to do something to help."
At the end of a 14 mile trek on Thursday, she reached the 405, and was greeted by the same sight P-22 encountered.
“He hits this," she said pointing down to the busy freeway below. "A ten lane freeway. And somehow he made it.”
P-22 kept going, and so will she. Pratt will reach the finish line in Griffith Park on Saturday morning to kick off the popular P-22 Day Festival, where people can make donations to help fund the Wildlife Crossing. She says the future bridge is essential for the species survival, but it’s just the beginning.
“We have to fix the 405. We have to fix the 5," she says, listing potential locations for future spans. "Once Liberty Canyon goes in and we see what’s possible, the rest will fall into place and again….I’m not stopping.”
A true trailblazer like the mountain lion that she calls her hero.
To make a donation to the wildlife bridge, click here.