I had a very good friend of mine send me an email that questioned the expense of the animal crossing over the 101 freeway in Northern Los Angeles County. He reported that it would cost $85 million and that that was an excessive amount for the few mountain lions in the Santa Monica mountains. It was sort of a good point but then I started thinking about it and sent him this response back.
Ed my friend Wow! That seems excessive.
But we are not looking at an increase of the mountain lion numbers we are looking at minimally sustaining the ones we’ve got. So that is actually 20,000$ per lion in CA. Bet you that the vet bill for P22 was much higher than that.
California’s budget is $291 billion.
85 million of that is equivalent to
Someone making $291,000 a year and spending 85$ on something in their backyard.
I think we can afford the “$85” for the 4000 mountain lions.
If someone’s income was 291,000$ ca. $300,000 a year it would be roughly equivalent to one half a cent for every mountain lion.
And it’s not just the mountain lions it’s all the other aspects of the ecology too. I wonder how many cars get damaged hitting deer in that section? Maybe the insurance companies want this to decrease their accident damage costs. I just found https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/conflict-solutions-california-wildlife-and-drivers and I didn’t see any specific information on the 101 but if you look at the map it’s a hotspot for animal vehicle collisions. Hmmmmm maybe we’re saving money? I even tried to find the cost of trapping and subsequent veterinary procedures to P22 but couldn’t find anything but I would bet it was well over 20,000$
I don’t know that this overpass is the best way to benefit the lions, and I don’t know why the planners made this particular one on the 101 an overpass as opposed to an underpass like in Temecula. The animals don’t care what it looks like, just that they can get across. And I don’t know that it should have cost 85 million. And I think in some ways it’s a bottleneck for animals trying to cross. But in the big picture in my opinion I think that the mountain lions need our help. And if it costs a total of $85 out of 300,000 I’m fine with that. Be well my friend! And thank you for prodding my curiosity.