Highway bridge aims to save California’s cougars

Robyn Beck / AFP

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—Hollywood stars aren’t the only celebrities who live in the hills around Los Angeles—Southern California’s mountain lions also make their homes there and are sometimes almost as famous.

The animal, also known as a puma or a cougar, is the region’s apex predator, and spotting them is something of a hobby for locals.

A 2013 photograph of the much loved—but unimaginatively named—P-22 in front of the Hollywood sign cemented the creature’s place in the popular imagination.

But the picture also highlighted the difficulties faced by a species whose habitat has been invaded by people, as well as from the growing risks of extreme weather events driven by human-caused climate change.

Mountain lion MOU-10M is measured and tested for vitals by members of the California Fish and Wildlife Department at the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center in Ramona, California on June 26, 2024 before his release back into the wild later that day. “Mountain lions are one of the many species that are threatened by urban expansion,” Andy Blue of the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, told AFP.
“They’ve lived here forever, and now we’re building homes and facilities out in their property,” said Blue. “So it’s inevitable that there’s going to be interaction between them.” (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

Mountain lions have “lived here forever, and now we’re building homes and facilities out on their property,” Andy Blue of the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).“So it’s inevitable that there’s going to be interaction between them.”

Lauren Gill, California Deputy Director National Wildlife Federation, points to the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, where construction continues on the vegetated overpass for wildlife over the 101 freeway on May 28, 2024 in Agoura Hills, California. One of the most ambitious efforts to reduce humanity’s impact on mountain lions is taking shape northwest of Los Angeles: the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. The first phase of the project, on track to open in 2025, will see the completion of a bridge for wild animals over 10 lanes of Highway 101, one of the busiest roads in southern California, with over 300,000 daily travelers. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

One of the most ambitious efforts to reduce humanity’s impact on mountain lions is taking shape northwest of Los Angeles: the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.

The first phase of the project, on track to open in 2025, will see the completion of a bridge for wild animals over 10 lanes of Highway 101, one of the busiest roads in southern California, with over 300,000 daily travelers.

Mountain lion MOU-10M blends into his surroundings upon release back into the wild in Ventura County, California, by Jessic West, environmental scientist with the California Fish and Wildlife Department on June 26, 2024. “Mountain lions are one of the many species that are threatened by urban expansion,” Andy Blue of the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, told AFP.
“They’ve lived here forever, and now we’re building homes and facilities out in their property,” said Blue. “So it’s inevitable that there’s going to be interaction between them.” (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

“When the 101 freeway was constructed through this area about 60 years ago, it had the unintended consequence of cutting off all of the Santa Monica Mountains” from another nearby mountain range, said Lauren Gill, the National Wildlife Federation’s deputy director for California.

That separation created what Gill called an “island of habitat, cut off from all of the wild area to the north.”

‘Extinction vortex’

The consequences of that highway have been significant for the area’s wildlife.

Not only did it diminish the genetic diversity of several native species, it also markedly reduced the mountain lions’ usual habitat for hunting and reproducing, putting the animal at risk of an “extinction vortex,” Gill explained.

The wildlife crossing, which will be covered by local plants, aims to remedy the problem by reconnecting the mountains, providing safe passage for the pumas and other fauna in the region.

“You wouldn’t think that birds would need the help of a wildlife crossing,” Gill said.

“But in fact, we have some smaller birds like [the] wren-tit, who are indigenous to this area, and they’re so tiny that the wind currents generated by the freeway make it impossible for them to cross.”

Once completed, the $80 million project will be the largest wildlife crossing in the world, according to organizers.

Threat from cars

The need for a protected zone like the crossing is evident at the Ramona Wildlife Center, where all kinds of animals from raccoons to bears are nursed back to strength after falling sick or being orphaned or injured.

Wildlife photographer Johanna Turner shows her “camera trap” photo of a cougar as she poses for a photo in the hills above Glendale, California, on May 30, 2024. “One to two mountain lions are struck by cars a week in California, and it’s the number one reason for mountain lion deaths in the state,” Andy Blue of the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, told AFP, adding that the public needed to be better educated about how to interact with animals. “We’re so used to tragic stories about wildlife and having to just give up and say, ‘This is a city… It just can’t be that way here,'” Turner said. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Blue said mountain lions come into their care for any number of reasons, but most stem from “human-wildlife conflicts.”

“One to two mountain lions are struck by cars a week in California, and it’s the number one reason for mountain lion deaths in the state,” he said, adding that the public needed to be better educated about how to interact with animals.

In June, an animal that was treated at the center was released back into the mountains near Los Angeles.

Wildlife photographer Johanna Turner, who uses remote cameras to capture animals in their natural habitat, said it does not take much to make the area around Los Angeles safer for mountain lions.

Wildlife photographer Johanna Turner checks on her remote “camera trap,” enclosed in a protective plastic box and is motion-triggered, to captures images of passing wildlife, in the hills above Glendale, California, just north of Los Angeles, on May 30, 2024. “One to two mountain lions are struck by cars a week in California, and it’s the number one reason for mountain lion deaths in the state,” Andy Blue of the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, told AFP, adding that the public needed to be better educated about how to interact with animals. “We’re so used to tragic stories about wildlife and having to just give up and say, ‘This is a city… It just can’t be that way here,'” Turner said. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

“I just want people to know how lucky they are to have this wildness, and it can go away,” Turner said from a hill overlooking the city’s skyline. “It can end so fast.”

When P-22 died in December 2022 the outpouring of grief ended up being a wake-up call for Los Angeles.

Then last month, as often happens in Tinseltown, a new star was born when a Hollywood Hills resident captured images of another mountain lion before it disappeared into Griffith Park.

“We’re so used to tragic stories about wildlife and having to just give up and say, ‘This is a city…It just can’t be that way here,’” Turner said.

“P-22 showed us it absolutely can.”

AFP

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