Mountain lion kitten, P-52, killed by vehicle on 118 Freeway

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A 7-month-old mountain lion kitten, known as P-52, was killed after being hit by a car on the 118 Freeway, which is the same freeway where his mother died weeks earlier.

P-52 was struck and killed on Dec. 20, only 17 days after his mother, P-39, was also struck and killed by a car on the same freeway.

A necropsy will be conducted on the kitten by California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials to determine if he was healthy before he died.

The kitten was one of three born to P-39. He, along with his siblings, was found over the summer in a den in the Santa Susana Mountains.

Officials with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area said P-52 is the 14th mountain lion to be killed on a freeway since studies on the animals began in 2002.