A koala was killed at the L.A. Zoo. Did this famous mountain lion do it?

Publish date: 2024-08-24

Something ate Killarney the Koala.

After the 14-year-old creature from Australia went missing  March 3 at the Los Angeles Zoo, employees there searched and found its bloodied body parts down the road from its enclosure, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Killarney’s body was found outside of its pen, L.A. Zoo Director John Lewis told the Associated Press.

That very same night, according to the wire service, zoo employees checked surveillance footage and saw something startling: P-22, the city’s famous urban mountain lion, lurking about.

“The evidence is circumstantial,” Lewis told the L.A. Times. “We don’t have any video of it taking the koala. We can’t say 100 percent.”

How will L.A.’s mountain lions cross the road? It may take a $55 million bridge.

Even so, zookeepers lock away smaller animals at night now to protect against any possible future attacks, AP reported.

P-22 lives in Griffith Park and was famously photographed by National Geographic strutting past the Hollywood sign. He’s become a beloved icon of the city’s mountain lions.

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Zoo employees looking at surveillance footage last month first caught a glimpse of P-22 roaming near the zoo, Lewis told NBC Los Angeles.

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“We were actually looking for bobcats, and what we found on that night was P-22,” Lewis told the station. “That was the first time we knew he was getting into the zoo.”

Los Angeles Zoo animals are showing off some strong selfie skills

Killarney was the zoo’s oldest koala, the L.A. Times reported. She leaves behind no offspring, and unlike the other koalas in the zoo, she liked to walk around their open enclosure at night, Lewis told the paper. The koalas are surrounded by an 8-foot wall.

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

Famous mountain lion P-22 made himself right at home under a Los Angeles porch

City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell highlighted the koala’s killing as a reason to relocate P-22 to a more remote area, the L.A. Times reported.

Barbara Romero, deputy mayor for city services, said “unfortunately, these types of incidents happen when we have a zoo in such close proximity to one of the largest urban parks in the country,” NBC Los Angeles reported.

The city’s mountain lions are surrounded by freeways and there’s a proposal to construct a $55 million wildlife bridge to connect the creatures.

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