Mountain lion struck, killed on 405 freeway in Sepulveda Pass
A mountain lion was struck and killed early Thursday morning on the 405 freeway in the Sepulveda Pass.
The collision occurred at about 1:15 a.m. on the southbound 405 freeway near Getty Center Drive in Bel Air, according to California Highway Patrol. The mountain lion was later identified by the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area as identified as P-97, an 18-month-old male that had recently separated from his mother, P-54.
P-97 was picked up by Caltrans and taken to the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. His radio collar was not located, but the big cat was identified by his ear tag. Park officials believe he was in search of territory to call his own, and had been most recently tracked roaming the eastern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, including along the 405 Freeway.
That portion of the 405 freeway is surrounded by steep, lush hillsides, with mountain lions living all around.
Last month, a tracked mountain lion, P-104, was also struck and killed by a vehicle on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
This comes just a day before a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Earth Day, for a new $87 million wildlife crossing in Agoura Hills designed to avoid such tragedies.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, the world's largest when it is complete, will span all ten lanes of the 101 freeway at Liberty Canyon Road. The crossing will be 165-foot-wide and sit 10 feet above the freeway.
It will connect the Santa Monica Mountains with the Simi Hills, providing a corridor for mountain lions and other animals who have faced habitat loss and isolation, trapped by freeways and urbanization. Several studies have found that mountain lion populations in Southern California are at risk of extinction.
"It's an engineering marvel," Beth Pratt, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, told CBSLA Thursday. "I mean, to put this living landscape on top, you have to put soil on top so that the vegetation can grow. And one of the other unique things about our crossing: nobody has ever tried to do it in such an urban area as well. So we have to do special design considerations to mitigate that sound you can hear. Because if an animal hears that, he's not gonna wanna go on top of it. The light from the headlights. I mean, all that stuff. We have to trick the animal into thinking they're not going over a freeway, or else they'll not use it."
