A Hollywood Mystery: Did Beloved Mountain Lion Murder Elderly Koala At L.A. Zoo?


The brutality of the animal kingdom has come to Los Angeles.

A beloved mountain lion is suspected in the grisly death of a koala named Killarney, who made her home in the Los Angeles Zoo, the Los Angeles Times reported. The koala’s death has not only saddened officials and visitors, but it has sparked a debate about whether the killer “ghost cat” has any place in the city of angels.

The Victim

Killarney was the oldest koala at the zoo at 14-years-old; the animals live to be 15, so she was quite elderly. The koala was born in Australia and made her home there starting in May 2010. She lived in an open enclosure surrounded by an eight-foot-high wall, and when the mountain lion pounced inside, she was probably on the ground rather than protected in the trees.

“She was very individual,” said L.A. Zoo director John Lewis of the koala. “At night, for whatever reason, it was typical for her to walk around…. The other koalas were up in the trees.”

The Perpetrator

The 6-year-old mountain lion known as P-22 makes his home in Griffith Park, a natural habitat filled with wildcats, coyotes, and other predators. Experts believe that the mountain lion was probably born in the Santa Monica Mountains and, in 2012, crossed two freeways to make the park his home.

“It was previously believed that the area was too small and that the land was too isolated by freeways and urbanization for there to be a mountain lion,” Kate Kuykendall, the spokesperson for the National Park Service’s Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, told ABC News. “So he became a big celebrity. He was a large predator living within the city limits of the second biggest city in the country.”

Biologists captured P-22 in 2012 and outfitted him with a tracking collar; they’ve been studying him for four years. The mountain lion has since become a mascot for Griffith Park, and a National Geographic photographer once snapped his picture standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

The Crime

The koala’s disappearance was discovered last Thursday, when zoo staff did a head count and found one koala missing. They found a tuft of hair down the road from the enclosure and, 400 yards from that, the koala’s bloody remains.

Surveillance camera footage spotted the mountain lion in the area at the time of the attack, and the animal’s tracking collar confirms it was in the vicinity. Officials don’t know how the mountain lion is getting in and out of the zoo, but Lewis said the attack on the koala was quite a feat.

“He had to jump down into the enclosure and jump back out with the koala. It’s a pretty good feat in itself…. It was a pretty quick snatch.”

The Consequences

The rest of the koalas have been moved out of their public habitats to keep them safe, and city officials are debating whether the famous mountain lion has any right to roam freely in Griffith Park anymore. Councilmen Mitch O’Farrell and David Ryu stand on opposite sides of the issue.

Since the koala’s death, O’Farrell thinks that the mountain lion should be moved to a “remote wild area” so he can roam without “human interaction,” even though “we love (the mountain lion) at Griffith Park.” Ryu thinks moving the predator out of the park is a bad idea because “mountain lions are a part of the natural habitat.”

Wildlife officials tend to agree with Ryu despite the koala’s death. Although pets, hobby animals, and livestock in the area have fallen victim to the big cats in the past year, mountain lion expert Jeff Sikich with the NPS said people must take the responsibility to protect their pets.

In the wake of the koala’s death, Lewis said they must learn to adapt to the mountain lion, just like he’s adapted to the zoo. Kuykendall agreed.

“(We’re) surrounded by hundreds of acres of natural habitat that’s home to wildcats, coyotes and other predators. I think we have to think in terms of the larger picture: How can we co-exist with native wildlife in southern California?”

[Image via jeep2499/Shutterstock]

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