A dead mountain lion was found early Saturday morning on the 101 Freeway near Calabasas, near where construction is still ongoing on a wildlife crossing.
The California Highway Patrol received a call about an animal being found in the slow lane of the highway near Liberty Canyon Road at 4:48 a.m., said Officer Elizabeth Kravig of the California Highway Patrol. Upon arrival, they found a mountain lion lying in the road, she said.
Kravig said the California Highway Patrol does not have any information about how the mountain lion was killed or how it got there.
The video shows the animal lying in the far right lane on the southbound side of the highway.
The accident happened near the same freeway exit where a new bridge for mountain lions and other wildlife is being constructed in an effort to prevent them from being struck and killed as they roam their natural habitat along the Los Angeles Freeway. The bridge, called the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, will connect the mountain ranges on either side of the 101 highway and is scheduled to be completed next year.
The crossing, scheduled to begin in 2022, is being built where the freeway intersects with Liberty Canyon Road and is a collaboration between the California Department of Transportation, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Mountain Recreation and Conservation Department, National Wildlife Federation and the National Park Service.
“Without a safe and sustainable wildlife crossing, movement between remaining natural habitats will be severely restricted, effectively trapping wildlife within the Santa Monica Mountains,” an online description of the crossing by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy reads.
The area of the highway where the mountain lion was found is between the cities of Agoura Hills and Calabasas.
