'First visitor' at new freeway overpass for wildlife in California
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Southern California is still under construction, but at least one large critter has already discovered its value as a safe corridor above a major freeway. On October 28, according to the National Park Service, a motion-sensor camera captured a photo of "our first wildlife visitor" on the southern slope of the crossing, which spans the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. As you might have guessed, the animal in the image is a coyote. "And that's just the beginning," Santa Monica Mountains National Park continued via Instagram . "In the coming days, NPS biologists will install remote wildlife cameras to track how mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, mule deer, and other animals approach and eventually use the crossing. "The goal? To reconnect wildlife habitat in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills, long divided by one of the nation's busiest freeways, and study how this connection benefits wildlife for years to come." The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing , scheduled to open December 2, states on its website that the project is designed to "reconnect a fragmented landscape for all wildlife and pull the region's cougars back from the brink of extinction."
Southern California, CA · 3d
