Does P-22, the Celebrity Big Cat of Los Angeles, Have a Successor?

For months, Los Angeles residents believed the park had been vacated. Only the memory of P-22, the beloved celebrity mountain lion who had once made it his home, lingered as the city mourned his death.

That was until this month, when an apparent successor — another mountain lion, seemingly bigger, younger and stronger — emerged late one night.

"It's very mystical," said Vladimir Polumiskov, who captured footage of the big cat near his apartment complex, which borders Griffith Park, a sprawling urban reserve north of downtown Los Angeles. "They called P-22 the Brad Pitt of the Hollywood Hills," he said. "This is going to be the puma DiCaprio."

Mr. Polumiskov, 30, saw the "huge cat" around 9 p.m. on May 14, he said, just as he was returning home from dinner with his wife and their 2-year-old son.

He said he had just parked and was unbuckling his son from his seat when he noticed the creature standing just feet away from his car. He gingerly placed his son back into his seat, got back in the car, and closed all the doors — all while the animal stared at him. "I was shocked at how big he was," he said. "This guy is just beautiful."