Rat poison found in dead mountain lion.

[Cattledog]

ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE
A 3-year-old mountain lion has died in the Santa Monica Mountains after being infected with rat poison, National Park Service officials announced Tuesday.

Biologists found the remains of P-47 on March 21 after his GPS collar sent out a “mortality signal” in the central portion of the Santa Monicas, park officials said. Lab results confirmed the lion had been exposed to six different anticoagulant compounds found in rat poison.

A necropsy revealed the big cat also had internal hemorrhaging in his head and lungs.

“It’s unfortunate to see an otherwise healthy mountain lion lost from what appears to be human causes,” said Seth Riley, a wildlife ecologist with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “In P-47’s case, it’s also a big loss because we don’t believe he had yet mated and passed along his genes, which would have been valuable since he had ancestry from north of the Santa Monicas.”

P-47 was one of the only two offspring of P-45, a mountain lion who gained national attention in 2016 after he killed several alpacas in one weekend and livestock owners got a permit to kill him. Wildlife activists intervened, and the permit to kill the mountain lion was withdrawn. P-45, however, is believed to have died since then, park officials said.

P-47 was one of the largest mountain lions in the National Park Service’s study of the big cats in the Santa Monica Mountains. He weighed 150 pounds, like his father, P-45.

Scientists think mountain lions ingest rat poison by eating animals, such as coyotes and squirrels, that either consume the poison themselves or eat smaller animals that have consumed the poison.

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[littlemissmartypants]

1. He's so beautiful.

I just want to hold him and tell him it's going to be okay. But he's dead. Humans have to do better.