cougar

Attempts to get P-22 a star have been repeatedly rebuffed because the cougar doesn’t have enough screen credits, said Pratt, though there are four documentaries about him — “The Secret Diary of P-22,” “America’s Most Infamous Mountain Lion,” “P22: That Cat That Changed America” and its sequel, “Strong Hunter.”

If the new cougar stays, he’ll face the same challenges as his predecessor.

“He IS more Hollywood than any celebrity — the Brad Pitt of the cougar world. But did Brad actually sleep under the Hollywood sign at night?”

He was treated for a bad case of mange and other maladies in 2014, but he never found a mate, as far as scientists could discover, although Pratt holds out hope that his DNA will turn up in some young cougar someday.

The young tawny cougar with the broad, handsome features headed east for nearly 50 miles to escape his father, wandering through whatever green spaces he could find “and probably more than few backyards,” Pratt said.