Beloved California mountain lion P-22 laid to rest in tribal burial

Mountain lion or cougar, who made his home in Los Angeles’s Griffith Park, was put down in December after illness and injury

Tribal leaders, scientists and conservation advocates buried southern California’s most famous mountain lion Saturday in the mountains where the big cat once roamed.

After making his home in the urban Griffith Park – home of the Hollywood sign – for the past decade, P-22 became a symbol for California’s endangered mountain lions and their decreasing genetic diversity. The mountain lion’s name comes from being the 22nd puma in a National Park Service study.