Within the city limits of Los Angeles, residents have been discovering mountain lions in their backyards, some in their crawlspaces. Bill Whitaker of 60 Minutes will go into the Los Angeles Hills to take a look and to interview the Park Service biologists who are monitoring the big cats who do their best to live an elusive life. Biologist Seth Riley says of a lion called P22 who wears a GPS tracking collar in Griffith Park, “We haven’t — knock on wood — had any major conflicts with him and people.” P22 was first spotted on remote cameras in early 2012. He adds, “It shows that even a large carnivore like a mountain lion can live right among people for many years.” Mountain lions like P22 eat mule deer.
In March 2014, P22 was captured to replace his GPS radio-collar battery. Biologists treated the sedated mountain lion for notoedric mange, a skin and hair parasite which is associated with exposure to anticoagulant rat poison. According to a National Park Service study, two mountain lions have died as a result of rodenticide poisoning. 60 Minutes will air Whitaker report on January 17 at 8pm on CBS.
