The National Park Service reported today that hikers found a dead mountain lion in Point Magu State park Sunday, and a park service biologist confirmed it was Puma-25, a one-year old female. Her remains have been sent to a lab for a necropsy, but the service says it doesn't appear that she died in a fight with another lion. Puma-25 was one of eight lions they're tracking in the area.
From the news release:
"Mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains face a number of challenges to survive," said Dr. Seth Riley, an expert on urban wildlife with Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. " In addition to conflicts with other lions over territory, lions here have to contend with road mortalities, rodenticide poisoning and occasionally disease."
P-25, as the animal is also known, was first discovered in remote camera photographs as one of two kittens. Along with her brother, P-26, the lion was the offspring of P-12 and P-13 and was fitted with an expandable GPS collar in August. Expandable collars are designed to grow with the lion, but when P-25’s collar recently came off, researchers were only able to track her by monitoring the location of her mother and brother, who she was presumed to be traveling with.
