Posted on 10/20/2014 4:35:51 PM PDT by SJackson
Several male mountain lions have been killed trying to get across a log-jammed freeway to breed
Conservationists are trying to raise $4 million to build a special freeway overpass for mountain lions in Los Angeles.
A population of the rare and secretive big cats live in the Santa Monica Mountains but are split in two by the city's busy 101 freeway.
There is a shortage of males and that has led to inbreeding on both sides of the road, with several males being killed as they try to make the dangerous crossing to breed.
Only one big cat - known by it's tracking name P12 - is known to have successfully negotiated the ever increasing traffic in recent years.
"He (P12) came from the north and had a lot of genetic material that was new," National Park Service wildlife ecologist Seth Riley told NPR. "Fortunately not only did he survive, but he then became a dominant breeding male.
"Our real hope is to have an overpass across 101. No one in 1950 was thinking about getting wildlife across roads when the freeway was built."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Male animals driven mad by mating pheromones follow traffic signs to cross at the appropriate safe location. < /eyeroll>
“Conservationists are trying to raise $4 million to build a special freeway overpass “
$4 million?????? That means that will cost $400 million before it’s finished.
For about 125,000 you could set up a mountain lion whorehouse on their side of the road and save one hell of a lot of money.
Heck, they could cancel the train and build hundreds of these. They're more useful.
Not to worry. The “conservationist’s” will put up signs for the mountain lions to know the bridge is for them.
You just cannot make this stuff up!
No worries. Either make the run at night, or wait until rush hour and leap majestically from vehicle to vehicle.
What about tunnels? Don’t laugh. When FDOT in south Florida expanded I-75/Alligator Alley across the Everglades, they built an 8’ tall chain link fence along each side of the highway and had tunnels in certain areas so widelife could get to the other side freely. It actually worked well with documented cases of deer, bears, hogs and Florida panthers using the thru ways.
No water anywhere near this.
The sight of water might cause feelings of anxiety among those mountain lions who are rabies-positive. Such feelings might result these mountain lions declining to use the mountain lion freeway overpass (MLFO).
Just spray the bridge with pheromones. They’ll find it!
$4 million sounds pretty steep for a single overpass to me
but you’re right, it will probably come in at many multiples of that estimate
What happened to survival of the fittest?
What happened to survival of the fittest?
I think it’s funny how they carefully describe this story, that the males are crossing the freeway to breed.
How is it that all the girls are on the other side of the freeway? What’s up with that?
And isn’t this whole story hetero normative? What about the gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered lions????
In many areas a “wildlife crossing” makes a lot of sense - like the Everglades. I imagine that some research needs to be done on the best crossing areas, fences, etc. to direct the animals to the crossings and other stuff. It just seems nuts that this stuff takes $4 million dollars.
If this L.A. mountain lion area is in such a busy area - how about trying to capture the lions on one side of the road and move them to the other and be done with it? Although I believe lions are pretty territorial and have a large range.
A new bridge may cause other problems.
Headline, 2024: “New Bridge increases Mountain Lion Attacks in Suburbia”
Several nice rugs .. problem solved.
I bring to your attention the amazing fact that in this same state of California, structures have been erected, at great public expense, in the vastness of the California deserts where traffic is the occasional prospector on his way to town to collect his social security check, tunnels through the roadways, and miniature fences a la the East/West German frontier for the sole purpose of preventing tortiseside. Untold horrors have played out when lonely and horny Desert Tortii have met their demise trying to navigate these asphalt strips of death. But, thanks to the diligence of the EPA, the BLM, and the National Park Service, we have been spared the holocaust that would have ensued had the tortoise been forced to fend for itself.
“Several nice rugs .. problem solved.”
Sad to say, mountain lion pelts have little value as pelts, having short and rather harsh hair. Siberian Tiger and Snow Leopard are another matter.
It is a simple matter to trap a few males and dump them across the street, so to speak.
They might even eat a few illegal aliens under the bridges.
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