Our beloved Hollywood Mountain Lion, P-22, dodged cars, avoided rodenticide and managed to survive in LA's urban jungle for a decade before old age, ill health and the rest caught up with him. He died several weeks ago and we are all mourning his tragic loss. 

But we must not let his passing be in vain.  The enormous turn out for the celebration of his life, which apparently even crashed Ticketmaster, shows how much the City of Angels loved their cougar. Congressman Adam Schiff's suggestion of a postage stamp is great, but we can do something that actually, really protects our wildlife going forward.

There is something very important you can do right now to protect all the other mountain lions living quietly in and around the Santa Monica mountain, as well as all the other wildlife we share our urban city with. It's not just about building bridges across freeways, it's about actively protecting our hillside areas.  The Los Angeles City Council has brought forward a groundbreaking ordinance to protect the hillsides from overdevelopment in our most urban of cities. That means, if you are building a new house, you should leave a little extra room around your property for wildlife to pass, particularly if you are situated in a known wildlife area. It's simple, it protects our quality of life in the hillsides and canyons (I live in Laurel Canyon), and, best of all, homes near wildlife preserves generally always increase in value. It's a win-win-win all across the board. 

A version of the ordinance weakened by political deal-making was approved by the Los Angeles Planning Commission this past December 2022, now we need to push hard to get the City Council to re-strengthen the ordinance, bring it to Planning committee as soon as possible, and get the whole City Council to approve it and Mayor Bass to sign it.

So, right now, while you're thinking about it:

1) Please sign the petition below calling on the Los Angeles City Council, especially Councilwomen Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky, to strengthen the wildlife ordinance back to an earlier version, and, most urgently, tell the City Council to approve this ordinance NOW!

2) Also, please sign the Center for Biological Diversity's excellent action alert which will send emails directly to the Los Angeles City Council. 

Other things you can do: 

3) Post a comment or a letter from your organization in the Council file to show your support.  Letters are already in there if you need samples.  Demand the City Council strengthen the ordinance back the way it was.

4) Sign up on on the CLAW (Citizens for LA Wildlife) website to get updates and actions you can take.

5) Sign up here on the LA City Planning page to receive updates on the ordinance.