Lovers of beloved P-22, aka the Hollywood Cat, are readying his final close-up, a life-sized sculpture of the world famous mountain lion made of bronze.
The popular cougar who crossed two freeways and made L.A.’s Griffith Park his unlikely home for 10 years, and lived amidst 10 million yearly visitors before he died in December 2022, will be memorialized in a bronze statue at the hands of Los Angeles-based artist Adam Matano.
The cost of the sculpture is upwards of $250 million, said Gerry Hans, president of Friends of Griffith Park. The Friends of Griffith Park, #SaveLAcougars.org and The National Wildlife Federation, are footing the bill and seeking sponsors and donations.
Matano’s conceptual designs depict the peripatetic cougar stepping down from a rectangular base onto the ground. A back relief will depict the park’s wild animals such as gray foxes and coyotes, as well as natural plants, Hans said.
“He shows a large amount of movement, momentum maybe,” said Hans on Friday, Oct. 31. “The movement could represent him coming to Griffith Park and that he’s part of the habitat.”
P-22 became famous for miraculously managing to cross both the 405 and 101 freeways to reach his roaming grounds — an eight-square-mile city park. During his 10 years there, he was seen on trail cameras and became well known to the larger public by night-time video captures, TV footage, newspaper articles and social media posts of him prowling in the park — a first for the more than 100-year-old city park.
“For me, P-22’s movement was everything,” said Beth Pratt, California regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation and leader of #SaveLACougars campaign. “He had to move to get there. And the lack of his ability to move as a mountain lion. That was a part of the design I really loved.”
The heralded puma found dinner by hunting mule deer and smaller mammals. He even survived a bout of mange caused by ingesting rodents who had eaten rat poison that made him sick. The detrimental use of outdoor rat poison left near homes and commercial buildings came to light as a result of P-22, causing several cities and other public entities to ban outdoor pesticide use near foothills where wild animals roam.
P-22 was the most well-known of the dozens of mountain lions collared in a National Park Service study. His photo standing in front of the illuminated Hollywood Sign appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine.
The scientific study found that these lions were trapped by crisscrossing freeways in the Santa Monica Mountains, unable to get to the north to find mates and doomed to die out. Many perished by car strikes while trying to cross the freeways of Los Angeles.
It was the legendary life of P-22 that inspired millions of dollars in donations and the creation of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — a unique bridge nearly completed and being built just for animals over the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills. When done next year, the bridge will help mountain lions safely cross the 101 freeway. And it will connect the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills in an effort to end genetic isolation of the local mountain lion population living only 10 miles from the Los Angeles city limits.
“There’s something moving about his quiet defiance in the face of overwhelming odds, and this has fueled my desire to capture not only the physicality of the animals but also their emotional essence,” said Matano in a prepared statement.
Ever since P-22 died there have been calls to Pratt and the SaveLACougars for a permanent memorial. “They said we need a place to memorialize him in Griffith Park,” said Pratt.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman helped move the process forward. “Showcasing P-22 bridging both the natural and man-made world, and navigating the space and dangers in between – Matano’s design is a beautiful ode to the improbable life led by our beloved mountain lion,” said Raman in a prepared statement.
The famous puma’s legacy is kept alive by P-22 Day Festivals held the third weekend of every October. Next year, Pratt hopes to unveil the bronze in time for the yearly celebration in the park. It’s all about a wild cat who taught Angelenos that co-existing with a mountain predator was possible, even beneficial.
The bronze of P-22 will be placed in a garden or meadow area near the park’s Visitor’s Center off Crystal Springs Drive, said Hans. The project still needs multiple city approvals, he said.
“This will give you a place to reflect on what this cat meant to you and your life,” Pratt said. “Some may want to take a picture. Some may just sit there quietly.”