Dozens of mountain lions die on roads
I-280 one of the most dangerous areas of California's highways
As the recent deaths of the beloved P-22 and another mountain lion in Southern California demonstrated, Golden State roadways are an often fatal obstacle for cougars.
Vehicle collisions have killed, on average, about 70 mountain lions a year on California state highways since 2015, according to a report released by the UC Davis Road Ecology Center.
The true total killed by vehicles is almost certainly higher, researchers wrote, because the report does not include cougars killed on city or county roadways.
Many of the most dangerous stretches of highway are found in the Bay Area and Southern California, the report found. “Particularly problematic highways” for the animals included Interstate 280 south of San Francisco, Interstate 15 in Riverside County, Interstate 5 in Siskiyou County and Highway 74 near the Santa Ana Mountains.
Researchers have also recorded dozens of mountain lion deaths on mountain highways in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Sacramento.
The rate of roadway deaths has gradually declined by about 10% between 2015 and 2022, the report found — but that may be in large part because of the interrelated drop in California's mountain lion population.
The decline “suggests populations may be gradually declining as rates of roadkill match population trends,” researchers wrote.
The last population study on mountain lions, completed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1996, estimated there are 4,000 to 6,000 living in the state. An updated population estimate has been ongoing since 2014, according to state wildlife officials.
“Busy freeways also cut off mountain lions from potential mates, severely decreasing their genetic diversity and threatening their existence,” Winston Vickers, a UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine wildlife veterinarian, said in a university news release accompanying the study.
The 2023 edition of an annual report by UC Davis wildlife re