It was late in the night in Los Angeles and artist Corie Mattie had just had a glass of wine and a bite to eat.

She went to let him in because she thought his brother had left.

It wasn't a chocolate laboratory.

She said it was a mountain lion.

The most famous mountain lion in Hollywood is definitely not just any mountain lion.

The March encounter left a mark on him.

He had green eyes and he glared at her. She looked away. She hid inside and P-22 lingered until dawn, when he quietly made his exit over a lattice fence.

He made me feel better. She said that he did not destroy her. It got out of hand quickly to my animal. It went from zero to one hundred in less than a minute.

The Angeleno P-22 had been bewitched before. He has lived in the city since 2012 when he was able to get across two deadly freeways and take up residence in one of the world's largest concrete jungles.

P-22 mural
Corie Mattie, an artist also known as LA Hope Dealer, stands in front of a mural she painted in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighbourhood that features P-22.

He has become a local folk hero because of his charisma. He was the face of the movement to protect the threatened species because of his plight.

The hearts of P-22's fans were shattered this week when the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that, due to increasingly erratic behavior from the big cat as he gets older, he now faces two grim possible futures: to be moved or to be euthanized. He wouldn't come back to the park.

His decade-long reign has solidified his status as a Hollywood star as bright as any.

A star is born

The average range of a mountain lion is 150 square miles. P-22 was willing to sacrifice space for a better spot.

He was first discovered in February 2012 when a park Biologist checked his wildlife camera traps.

The big puma butt came across my computer screen. Mr Ordeana said something.

He was not sure if the park had an exciting new resident or not.

P-22 was the first person to get a profile in the LA Times.

Steve Winter set up a camera trap beneath the Hollywood sign to take pictures of the big cat. He waited for P-22 to show up.

The photo was published in National Geographic.

"It gave people hope, because they're living in this big urban area, and they have this park they walk into that was actually wild with a California cougar." In the city of celebrities, he became a celebrity.

The P-22 escapades began a decade ago. In 2015, he hid in a crawl space below a Los Feliz home. He was often seen on doorbell and park cameras as he feasted on a deer he had just killed. When he killed a koala at the LA Zoo, the city forgiven him. The day is called "P-22 Day" in Los Angeles.

He came to symbolize a dark reality for the mountain lions.

The rat poison that has become ubiquitous around Los Angeles has made local prey such as coyotes, raccoons, and other small animals more vulnerable.

Officials hauled P-22 in for treatment after camera traps caught him looking sick. The cause of the mugshot of P-22 was not a joke.

California's freeways have cut off the habitat of the species. Researchers think the population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains could die out in 50 years because of inbreeding.

New homes are potentially deadly because of the great slash of asphalt. A pregnant mountain lion was killed when she tried to cross a highway. There were traces of rat poison in her system.

Mr Ordeana used to take a video of P-22 making calls. He would not be able to reproduce because of the freeways and development surrounding the park.

The lion king's reign has ended

The humans who loved him brought about his downfall. He began acting erratically in the urban areas around the park at the age of 12. He killed a chihuahua, a highly protected species in Los Angeles. He attacked a resident and their dog.

When officials cornered P-22 in a backyard on December 12th, he was full of mange and had an eye injury that may have been caused by a vehicle collision.

He was not likely to be released back into the wild after the press conference.

His fans say that removing him from the park and placing him in a sanctuary would be the best-case scenario for his legacy.

"He survived out here against all odds, and I was inspired to paint a large mural of P-22," said Ms Mattie. People can relate to him. She said that LA would chew you up and spit you out, but he is still going.