A mountain lion found dead a few weeks after surviving the California wildfire

MILLE OAKS, CA – A mountain lion who survived the Woolsey fire and dozens of highway crossings was found dead, the National Park Service reported Friday. the CBS Los Angeles.

"The culvert cat" for its habit of using several times a long and narrow siphon to cross Highway 101 near Liberty Canyon, in the Agura hills. His remains were found this week, with his legs visibly burned. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will be conducting a necropsy to determine the exact cause of his death.

"P-64 was a fascinating cat to study because it had crossed our famous deadly highways dozens of times," Jeff Sikich, a biologist with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said in a statement. "It is very unfortunate that he was apparently so successful in surviving in this fragmented landscape, and then died as a result of a devastating fire." It is particularly interesting that he chose to cross a new burn zone rather than retreat to urbanized areas to escape fire. "

The first authorities captured and tagged P-64 in February. During these nine months, P-64 crossed 41 and 118 highways in total 41 times. It is believed that he is the father of four kittens born in May

The Woolsey Fire erupted on November 8, destroying 96,949 acres and destroying 1,500 structures. Three deaths were attributed to the fire and three firefighters were injured.

When the fire broke out, researchers said that the 4-year-old fat cat was in the Simi Hills, north of Oak Park, and that he was still traveling on these hills. the next few days before falling in a remote area. A biologist located P-64 on November 26 with a telemetry device in an unburned part of the Simi Hills, letting researchers believe that he could have been killed and survived.

The last place followed by P-64 was November 28th. Sikich went to the location of the latest P-64 GPS on Dec. 3 and found P-64 nearby, according to the National Parks Service. The big cat seemed to be dead for a few days.

Researchers reported that P-64 was one of 11 lions in the mountains surrounding the devastating Woolsey Fire, which had burned 88% of the National Park lands in the Santa Monica Mountains . The only fat cat that would have died in the fire is P-74.