Big cats need to run, too!

Mountain lions roam the hills throughout Southern California, but our developed cities and freeways interrupt their ecosystem.

A longtime project is finally coming to fruition as a solution to at least one region: the Santa Monica Mountains that stretch the length of Malibu. A new wildlife crossing over the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills will bridge the Santa Monica Mountains to the mountains just north of the freeway.

Governor Gavin Newsom and Collin O’Mara, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, were onsite to break ground just last month on Earth Day. Billionaire Wallis Annenberg was also there, who is an advocate and contributor to the $87 million project.

Many other animal species will benefit from this connecting bridge as well. Far too many animals get killed attempting to cross our highways, and it is a big hope that animals learn new habits to use this bridge instead.

It’s exciting to see such strong support to help prevent the remaining mountain lions from becoming roadkill, which is how they often die. Their horizons will also be greatly expanded with the combination of two such large mountain ranges!

One Fast Cat is headquartered in Camarillo, just northbound along the 101 freeway from this new wildlife crossing. Our team members live across the area, some quite local to the bridge. We will be sure to share notable updates to the project’s progress!

Artist's rendering of bridge is courtesy of CALTRANS.