$114M SoCal wildlife crossing to track whether animals are ‘happy’ with taxpayer-funded bridge

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Researchers are concerned about how animals really feel about a long-awaited and over-budget wildlife crossing — attaching tracking collars to measure data linked to their emotions.

The $114 million Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is set to open over the 101 Freeway in December and will reconnect species like mountain lions and bears that were cut off from land opposite the busy thoroughfare.

Officials held a press conference on Thursday at the site of bridge, explaining that said animals will wear “biologging tags” that will measure their heart rate, GPS data and body temperature.

“We’ll be able to see not just how the animals move near the crossing, but how they are physiologically affected,” said Seth Riley, chief wildlife ecologist for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

The goal of the tags is to see how animals interact with the bridge.

“Are they happy to go up on there and their heart rate doesn’t change, or what is it like to be near the freeway? That will be a new kind of data that we’re interested in,” Riley added.

Scientists have begun fitting deer with the tags and mountain lions are up next, they said.

Beth Pratt, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund, said the bridge is about conserving wildlife and making sure mountain lions don’t go extinct.

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“The crossing is about the next century of wildlife preservation in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s about the mountain lion population not going extinct,” she said.

The bridge — which is 210 feet long and 174 feet wide, with a concrete base — is set to open on Dec. 2.

The crossing was inspired by the outpouring of grief surrounding the death of the “Hollywood Lion,” P22, famously pictured in front of the iconic Hollywood sign in 2012, who died from injuries suffered after being hit by a car attempting to cross the 101.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said California had committed $54 million when he broke ground on the crossing in 2022, and said another $10 million would complete the project, which would also be funding by philanthropists.

By 2025, that figure had hit $92 million and could soar to a whopping $114 million, with taxpayers contributing $77 million so far.