Mountain lion killed in Santa Monica Mountains

AP | January 23rd, 2014

National Park Service

P-32, one of three cubs recently born in the Santa Monica Mountains, is thought to be the result of inbreeding. Another cub, which officials believe was not being tracked, was killed by a car on Monday.

National Park Service officials are awaiting results of genetic testing on a mountain lion kitten killed by a car in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The lion was struck Monday on the southern section of Kanan Road.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area spokeswoman Kate Kuykendall says the kitten is not believed to have been one that was being tracked, based on its size and because it was not marked in any way.

The possibility of an unknown mother lion could be important.

DNA testing of three mountain lions born in December showed inbreeding, a troubling sign for a population penned in by wide freeways and the urban sprawl of metropolitanLos Angeles. The mother of those kittens has been tracked by a radio collar as part of a decade-long study.

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