Letter From America

Marion McKeone: death of ‘the original LA cougar’ shows city’s love for nature

Tickets for Saturday’s memorial service for the mountain lion known as P-22 were as hard to get as for the LA Lakers game where LeBron James broke the NBA’s scoring record

A remote camera photo of P-22 in 2013. The animal, which was euthanized on Saturday, had amassed more than 10,000 followers on Instagram. Picture: Steve Winter/National Geographic

Last Saturday I attended a memorial service at the Greek Theatre, arguably Los Angeles’ most beautiful concert venue. A natural amphitheatre nestled deep in the hills of Griffith Park, it was an unusual yet entirely fitting spot to celebrate the life of one of Los Angeles’ most beloved residents, the mountain lion known as P-22.

When tickets for P-22’s memorial service were distributed by Ticketmaster a month earlier, all 6,000 were snapped up within two ...