Jeopardy Fame

How cool is it they made a September 2022 Jeopardy clue about you despite being a carnivorous quadruped with extremely sharp teeth who lives outdoors, is not particularly sociable, is meaner than a junkyard dog, and considers other animals they can kill their Happy Meal? Well, if you're in L.A. you have superstar status, even if you are a puma with the rap handle name of P-22.

Yes, Virginia, out in the largest, westernmost state that my oldest daughter likes to call "the land of the fruits and nuts" they adore the resilience of their pumas, so much so that they sell tickets to honor their passing. Where else on earth could such affection flow?

In one of those terrific A-Hed pieces in Monday's Wall Street Journal we learn of such an adored predator, P-22, given that name because he was the 22nd subject in a study of pumas and was so well known that the people who conceive those Jeopardy clues thought enough of his notoriety that they made a $1,200 clue about him. And the contestant knew the answer!

I detect a bit of West Coast bias here, but then again, I also detect an East Coast bias sometimes when the clue is New York centric. That's what happens when we have a bi-coastal population that keeps getting on and off transcontinental aircraft.

I've got to say I never heard of P-22. My NYC elementary school in Flushing, Queens was PS-22, standing for public school. The school is still there, but in a what I'll consider a new building that's probably over 55 years old now. The old one, the one I went to, was heated by coal and had separate archway entrances for BOYS and GIRLS when classes were not co-ed. They were co-ed when I went there in the '50s. I have a picture of the old building here in my home office, a lovely brick building on landscaped grounds.

The A-Hed piece by Alicia A. Caldwell has one of those attention-getting snappy headlines: "Los Angeles salutes 'Brad Pitt' of Lions."

Turns out that once upon a time a mountain lion, "tawny muscled puma," P-22 as he became to be known, "somehow traversed 10 lanes of hellish California to take up residence in Griffith Park, an urban oasis in the Hollywood Hills and above the trendy Los Feliz neighborhood." I liken this to taking up residence in Central Park overlooking Bergdorf Goodman's.

P-22 sightings were to be cherished. He's taken on an identity all his own, such that U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, who is from the L.A. area, has proposed a P-22 stamp and called him a "celebrity neighbor, the occasional troublemaker and beloved mascot for our city." This is a man wanting to run for Senate to take Diane Feinstein's seat. Land of the fruits and nuts indeed..

Tagged, and followed, P-22 is thought to have been the recent killer of two chihuahuas, as well as having thought to have been the killer of a koala bear who escaped from a zoo in 2016.. This attack on the dogs was seen as a sign of other illnesses and his inability to bring down larger prey. P-22 was euthanized on December 17 at age 12.

Like any famous person, P-22 was celebrated last Saturday at a sold-out "P-22 Celebration of Life" at the Greek Theater. The venue seats 5,000 and those who couldn't get tickets (who was in charge of that?) could go to any one of 11 Los Angeles public libraries that were getting a live stream telecast for a watch party. That cat was famous.

New York City might be on the verge of a wildlife creature becoming a fabric of the city as well. There's a fairly rare owl that's gotten out of a vandalized Central Park zoo enclosure and has been sitting in treetops, posing for the long lens of bird watchers.

Flaco is a Eurasian Eagle Owl, no doubt called that because of its 6½' wingspan. There is worry about what Flaco will get to eat because birds in captivity lose their natural instincts to go find food for themselves. They're used to cage service. The concern is Flaco will starve not knowing where to get food.

It will be interesting if Flaco lives long enough to gain mythic status in the city that never sleeps. If only he can realize that no one will miss a pigeon or two if devoured everyday. Flaco, anything for you.  

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