Everyone has a funny wildlife story or two to tell, and the Internet and social media are always full of “cute” animal posts. After all, animals have always played an important role in our daily lives. There are the domesticated animals which provide us with food, clothing, and companionship; then there’s the wildlife most of us will only encounter in zoos, sanctuaries, or on safaris.

It’s not uncommon to read usually unfortunate stories of man’s encounters with wildlife. Sometimes our paths cross quite unintentionally, often with hilarious results. However, some stories are so bizarre that they prompt not only a good laugh but many social media shares. From rampaging seagulls to bears from above, sushi-stealing penguins, and a snakebite victim’s ultimate revenge, here are some of the funniest wildlife stories which have recently made the news.

10 Man Bites Snake

Being bitten by a snake is not particularly unusual. However, one Indian man didn’t quite follow typical first aid procedures and exacted a bizarre revenge on the rat snake which bit him one Sunday afternoon in July 2019. When his quiet drink was interrupted by an unexpected snakebite, the victim bit back. He literally grabbed the snake and chewed it to pieces.^[1]

Hospital staff were astounded when the man’s family brought not only the snakebite victim but also the remains of the chewed-up snake. Fortunately, the snake involved was not considered venomous.

9 Disorderly Seabirds

Seagulls are often the scourge of any seaside town as they flock in droves to scavenge food, leaving droppings everywhere. A picnic of fish and chips can quickly turn into a feeding frenzy as flocks of seabirds descend upon unsuspecting holidaymakers. It’s also not uncommon to have an “unwelcome deposit” dropped on you from above.

However, seaside towns in Southern England have been battling drunken behavior, not from their human pub patrons but the native seagulls, who seem to be developing a taste for alcohol. Seagulls in Bournemouth and Devon have been enjoying a tipple from leftover drinks from pubs, breweries, and even from drink containers left at the beach, basically anywhere they can scavenge alcohol.

The inebriated birds have been seen staggering along the beach as well as vomiting on passersby. Wildlife officers called in to treat the ill gulls have reported that they “stink of alcohol” after partying on the booze dregs. The drunken birds are collected and taken to a nearby sanctuary for treatment.^[2]

8 Chihuahua Snatched By Seagull

When they aren’t scavenging food from seaside picnickers, seagulls are generally predators, dining on crabs and small fish within close proximity of their rookeries. The seemingly fearless birds have even been known to attack passing whales, diving for a bite of live whale meat.

In July 2019, a family from Devon was distraught when a swooping seagull carried off their pet. Gizmo the Chihauhua was watching his owner hang out the laundry in the backyard when a seagull suddenly descended and carried off the small dog.^[3] Despite hopes that their pet may have been dropped when the gull realized it had snatched a dog, Gizmo has not been located.

Wildlife officers confirmed that this was bizarre behavior, even for seagulls.

7 Sushi-Stealing Penguins

Little Penguins, native to New Zealand and parts of Southeast Australia, tend to be shy creatures. Tourists and locals enjoy the sunset “penguin parades,” when the little birds waddle back into their beachside rookeries after a day’s fishing. Very rarely do they welcome human interaction.

However, in July 2019, a couple of little penguins in Wellington, New Zealand, apparently decided to save themselves the trouble of fishing. The pair set up nest under the fridge in a harborside sushi bar, where they were helping themselves to the fish. Wildlife officers apprehended the pair, returning them to Wellington Harbour and its abundant fish.

Obviously not happy to be back in the wild, the pair once again swam back to shore, waddling back up the street to resume their free feeding. Officers then relocated the birds a little farther offshore in the hope that they would resume more traditional fishing methods.^[4]

6 Australian Steer Reporting For ‘Bale’

In June 2019, a police station on Australia’s east coast was forced into lockdown, not over a violent criminal but a rampaging steer.

The Belted Galloway was one of two steers being transported on a livestock trailer through the coastal town of Batemans Bay. When the vehicle stopped at a traffic light, one of the steers managed to escape from the trailer, causing havoc as it ran up and down the busy street.

Local police were astounded when the steer eventually barged through the door of the police station, rampaging through the front area. Unlike some parts of Australia, Batemans Bay is not a place where you would expect to find cattle in the middle of town.

Humorous reports of the incident told of the offender being given a “Moooooooove-on direction” and stated that it was looking for “bale.” Livestock officers were eventually able to impound the runaway before reuniting him with his owner.^[5]

5 Alligator In Florida Pool

When you live near waterways that are home to potentially dangerous reptiles such as alligators and crocodiles, you are well-aware of the safety precautions to avoid unwelcome encounters. But you would expect your backyard swimming pool would be a relatively safe place to cool off. Not so for one family in Fernandina Beach, Florida, who found that an alligator had made itself quite at home in their pool in August 2019.

When Wendy Langley heard splashing in the pool during the middle of the night, an alligator was the last thing she expected to find swimming around when she turned on the floodlights.

Wendy didn’t want to risk her small children or pet dog coming into contact with the alligator in the morning, so a late-night rescue mission began to remove the unwelcome swimmer. Local authorities took several hours to trap the reptile, transporting it to a more suitable swimming spot.^[6]

4 ‘Drop Bear’

Wandering wildlife are a known road hazard. Around the world, deer, elk, kangaroos, livestock, and more are frequent causes of accidents when they wander onto busy highways. But bears? In August 2019, a California police car was reduced to burned-out wreckage after being hit by a surprise falling bear.^[7]

A sheriff’s deputy was driving along State Route 96 when a bear suddenly landed on the vehicle’s hood, smashing the windshield. The impact caused the vehicle to roll onto an embankment, bursting into flames.

The driver miraculously escaped injury in the bizarre encounter, and the bear decamped from the scene before emergency crews arrived. It isn’t known whether the bear simply fell on the car from the nearby steep embankment or jumped onto it.

3 A Silent Travel Companion

Many of us enjoy traveling with our dogs. Be it a short trip to the shops or a long road trip, our canine friends make excellent travel companions. It is always sad when we inevitably have to say goodbye. Not so for one Oregon dog owner, however.

When his loyal Jack Russell Terrier, Phoebe, died in 2013, Mitch Byer had her stuffed so that she could continue to be an everyday part of his life. He even continues to take her on road trips. However, he has run into issues involving people concerned about the dog left in his car. This has happened frequently enough that Mitch now places a sign in his window that reads, “Don’t worry, the dog is already dead. She’s taxidermied. Please don’t break my window.”

Phoebe even has her own social media accounts, which have attracted a following.^[8]

2 Raccoon Stuck In Vending Machine

The raccoon’s masked facial features tend to mark it as a bit of a bandit. However, one furry thief in Florida was caught red-pawed in August 2019. Not content with foraging for fruit, or even scavenging from a garbage bin, this unfortunate raccoon managed to break into a high school vending machine, where he proceeded to feast on fruit snacks.

Unfortunately, he became trapped in the machine, from which he was later apprehended. Local wildlife authorities attended the scene, wheeling the vending machine outside before dismantling it and letting the four-legged thief make his escape.^[9]

1 Fox Cubs Bouncing On Trampoline

All kids love a bit of fun in the backyard, and even baby animals enjoy a frolic in the wild. Childhood stories abound with tales of woodland creatures coming out at night to play. However, these midnight frolics actually do happen, as a homeowner in Cardiff, Wales, discovered in August 2019.

His motion-sensor cameras alerted him to movement in the yard very early one morning. He was astonished to find the culprits were a family of fox cubs happily playing on the trampoline. The man filmed the wildlife antics for some time, as the baby foxes happily bounced and played.

It isn’t unusual to see the odd fox passing through the backyard early in the evening, but taking over the play equipment in the middle of the night was certainly something out of the ordinary.^[10]

Lesley Connor is a retired Australian newspaper editor who enjoys researching bizarre, unusual, and entertaining news stories from around the world.

The main problem conservation biologists deal with is population: there’s either too much of one species or not enough of another. Because of the diversity in the animal and plant kingdoms, much of conservation work is concerned with the most effective ways to kill “bad” species and encourage “good” ones to reproduce. Here are a few of the most interesting ideas that scientists have used to control the lives of other species.

10 Panda Boot Camp

Some captive panda breeding programs have ended in heartbreak, like when Xiang Xiang the captive-bred panda was killed just one year after being released into the wild. That’s where the idea of panda boot camp comes in. Tao Tao was a giant panda raised in Wolong Nature Preserve with the goal of preparing him to live in the wild.

In addition to his mother’s training in basic skills like climbing, scientists put Tao Tao through drills to prepare him for hazards like storms, mudslides, and predators. Most importantly, they only interacted with him wearing panda costumes and scents so he would not grow accustomed to humans. Tao Tao was released in 2012 and recaptured for a health checkup in 2017, where he was reported to be thriving in the wild. The Wolong panda survival school raises several panda cubs every year, putting them through strict drills to make sure they’ll be able to look after themselves in the wild.

9 Fish-Zapping Vaccuum Robots

From the makers of Roomba comes the Guardian, a friendly marine robot on a mission to zap as many lionfish as it can. The lionfish is a venomous species that has become a major threat in areas like the Bahamas where it consumes far more species than any local predator. No predators are interested in the lionfish due to its venom, but they can be eaten by humans when prepared correctly. The problem is that they’re hard to catch through traditional fishing methods.

That’s where the Guardian comes in. The current version of the Guardian can swim as low as 500 feet below the surface, where it stuns lionfish and sucks them into a holding tube so they can be brought back up. It still requires a remote control when launched into the ocean to ensure that it does not zap similar species by mistake, but future iterations will likely be able to pick out lionfish with Terminator-like accuracy.

8 Dugong Drone Surveillance

Dugongs are an eastern relative of the manatee whose habitat is important for the coastal ecosystem of the Indian and Western Pacific oceans. Since they’re very shy creatures, it’s been a real pickle for scientists to monitor this unique and threatened species using traditional methods. Until recently, the best option was an aerial survey with a seaplane, but those kinds of flights can be dangerous and costly, especially when you run out of gas hundreds of miles from the nearest inhabited island.

That’s why scientists turned to drones, developing a remote tracking method that’s a lot more environmentally friendly and accurate than using planes. Drones are launched from small boats and collect thousands of images in a flight, which are analyzed by a dugong-spotting algorithm that gets it right around 70% of the time. This allows researchers to put together population density maps for this vulnerable species in a few days, making it an incredibly useful and time-saving process. Probably a much better use of drone technology than whatever your weird neighbor is doing with them.

7 Undercover Crane

If you want to hang with cranes, you’ve got to look the part. That’s the idea behind breeding programs that raise whooping cranes with human surrogates in white robes and crane-shaped hand puppets. Whooping cranes raised by humans will often imprint on them, recognizing them as a caregiver. This can cause a serious identity crisis when the crane reaches mating age and sees humans as potential mates. The obvious solution is to fool the cranes into thinking that we too are cranes.

Whooping cranes are the tallest bird in North America, so it’s easy for them to see us as equals in terms of size. All you need to complete the costume is a head-to-toe white covering with a crane head puppet at the end of one arm. Human noises are limited around the cranes and calls are piped in to get the chicks used to the sound of their own kind. Conservation efforts like these have helped bring the whooping crane back from the brink of extinction. In the 1940s there were only 16 cranes left; that number is now over 800, most of them in the wild.

6 Robot Scarecrow Fish

Not every fish control project requires kidnapping invasive species in a vacuum robot. Sometimes all you need to do is spook them a little. This was the idea behind a silicone robot built by researchers at NYU to resemble and act like a large-mouthed bass. Its target is mosquitofish, a small species that was introduced into many freshwater environments to control mosquito populations but has now become an ecological threat.

Initial trials of this scarecrow bass showed it was capable of inducing stress in mosquitofish populations and even causing them to lose weight. Stress and weight loss lowers their chances of reproduction, which would help bring the population under control. The goal is to reduce mosquitofish populations without having to kill them, both due to humane concerns and because the species is so widespread it would be difficult to kill them in large quantities without affecting the broader ecosystem. The robot bass is still in prototype stages, but future iterations could be released into the wild to swim around spooking every mosquitofish they see.

5 Transcontinental Muskox Train

This one is a throwback from the early days of American wildlife conservation. Muskoxen were prevalent in parts of Alaska until the end of the 19th century, when a combination of over-hunting and climate conditions wiped out the last Alaskan herds. Something about that didn’t sit right with America’s legislators, because in the 1930s the U.S. Congress allocated funds for a reintroduction of muskoxen to Alaska. Thanks to this effort, today the state’s muskox population is over five thousand.

Here’s how they pulled that off: first, a group of Norwegian sailors captured 34 muskoxen from Greenland and hauled them back to Norway, where they boarded a steamship bound for New York City. There they spent a month in quarantine, safe but unable to enjoy any of the glitz and glamor of the Big Apple. The herd then boarded a train bound for Seattle and another steamship from there to Seward, Alaska. They took yet another train to Fairbanks, Alaska, where they received a five-year break before boarding another steamship that took them to Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea (and nearly sank along the way.) Remember that muskoxen are covered in two layers of shaggy wool designed to withstand Arctic winters, and now imagine how uncomfortable that 8,000-mile journey must have been. Still, most of the original herd survived and the population on Nunivak is now around 600. It also seeded several other herds on mainland Alaska which are thriving to this day.

4 Electroejaculation

Artificial insemination is common in agriculture and conservation, but some species don’t take too kindly to…let’s say, manual harvesting. Horses and some friendlier bulls can be persuaded to give up samples the old-fashioned way in a pinch, but what about when you need seed from something a little more aggressive, like a lion or a tiger? One of the solutions is electroejaculation, which is most used on livestock whose owners don’t feel like getting too up close and personal. Methods vary, but the basics involve inserting a rectal probe that oscillates between zero and maximum voltage, stimulating muscle contractions to induce ejaculation. Prototypes developed on domestic cats with plastic tubes and copper wires have been reformatted for bigger animals like Amur leopards and Siberian tigers. A recent success story from the Singapore Zoo produced a lion cub named Simba from electroejaculation of a geriatric lion whose name you should be able to guess. Simba was 20-year-old Mufasa’s first cub, and unfortunately also his last, as he did not survive the shocking procedure. Still a better way to go than getting trampled by wildebeests.

3 Bird Ejaculation Helmet

Sirocco the kakapo is a bird from New Zealand who likes people a little too much. The flightless nocturnal parrot comes from a species that almost went extinct but is coming back due to breeding efforts. Unfortunately for Sirocco, he grew up around humans and imprinted on his caretakers, causing him to have very little interest in mating with his own kind. He has tried to mate with humans, though, most notably in a 2009 viral video where he mounts zoologist Mark Cawardine and valiantly tries to make babies with the scientist’s skull.

His affection for human heads caused scientists to invent Sirocco an “ejaculation helmet,” a piece of rubber headwear covered in little dimples to collect semen. The problem is that kākāpō are long-winded lovers, often taking almost an hour to finish. No one quite had the stamina to let Sirocco spoon their skulls for that long, so the bird remained celibate. Despite the failure of the ejaculation helmet itself, the wacky story of Sirocco has brought global attention to the plight of his species, so we’re counting it as a conservation win anyway. The celebrity bird is now in his twenties and lives alone on an island, occasionally accepting visits from the heads of lovers past. The helmet is on display at the national Museum in Wellington.

2 Poison Toad Sausage

Cane toads are one of the most notorious invasive species in the world. Videos of motorists running over the venomous amphibians have brought attention to just how despised this species is in Australia. One of the biggest concerns is their effect on animals like the quoll, a small marsupial that preys on the cane toad but can be killed by the poison in its glands. Apparently cane toads are just too tasty to pass up, so scientists have developed a way to put quolls off the taste of toad meat. First, live toads are frozen to death, skinned, and ground into sausage, a process that is notoriously stinky. Then, the sausage-maker adds a chemical called Thibenzole that causes nausea in animals. Finally, the tainted toad sausages are dropped into quoll country by helicopter.Though initial results after the first drop in 2018 were questionable, the sausage strategy does seem to be making quolls turn away from cane toads.

1 Beaver Skydiving

After World War II, people started moving into the area of Payette Lake, Idaho, where local beavers had been squatting for centuries without a Mini-Mart in sight. After a while, the beavers started fighting back against human settlement and causing real damage to irrigation systems and orchards. It’s no shock that the people weren’t interested in moving away, so they had to figure out a way to move the beavers away. The mountainous terrain of Idaho made relocation by horse and truck costly and dangerous for the beavers, who cannot stand long periods of heat outside of water.

The solution came in the form of military planes and surplus parachutes. Through a series of trials, wildlife managers developed a box that was sturdy enough to hold a beaver and gently opened when it touched the ground. The first tests were done on an old beaver named Geronimo, who was dropped from a plane in a beaver box with a parachute over and over until the scientists were certain it was safe. Don’t feel bad for old Geronimo, though. He got priority registration on the first flight to the new territory, along with a harem of three females to keep him company. Seventy-six beavers in total were safely transplanted into the Idaho wilderness, with only one casualty whose box opened early and fell out.

Humans have continued to build and expand their cities, encroaching on acres upon acres of animal habitats. Sadly, many animals get hurt or killed while trying to cross man-made roads. This leads to diminishing animal populations, a lack of biodiversity, and a de-segmentation of animal hunting and living grounds. The good news is that human beings recognized the peril our roads have put animals in and have implemented ways to reconnect and construct safe passage for animals by constructing wildlife crossings.

These wildlife crossings facilitate safe passage by providing animal-friendly alternate routes. These passages come in different forms, such as bridges, tunnels, and dams. Many wondered if animals would be smart enough to use artificial crossings. In fact, there was no need to worry because animals are brilliant and, in fact, embraced these artificial crossings in every shape, form, and size. Wildlife crossings have aided countless species, from crabs to cougars, to name but a few.

So, while we still don’t know why the chicken crossed the road, we know how. Below is a list of fascinating facts about wildlife bridges and crossings throughout the world.

Related: 10 Animals Humans Need To Survive

10 Eco-Ducts

European countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and France, have been building an assortment of structures to reduce roadkill for decades. In the Netherlands, wildlife crossings are called eco-ducts. There are approximately 600 of these structures in the Netherlands alone. These eco-ducts are built on protected lands and cannot be mined, drilled, or hunted on. There are currently plans to construct even more eco-ducts in the Netherlands.

Other countries are also finding innovative ways to create and build these structures. Some have sponsored design competitions, like the Yangjaegogae Eco-bridge Design Competition in Seoul, South Korea. The winning design mimics the sloping mountains that it connects, enabling the many creatures inhabiting the area to safely cross the very busy eight-lane highway below.^[1]

9 Not a New Invention

The 17th-century French used bundles of branches to create fish ladders, which acted like steps in steep water. This helped fish bypass obstructions and get where they needed to go. Fish ladders are often constructed of rocks, lumber, or logs and can aid fish in upstream migration. While it’s fun to think of fish climbing ladders, we all know fish don’t have legs, so these fish ladders help fish find the food, mates, other resources they need to go to carry out their business of being fish.

Richard McFarland, a Canadian lumber mill owner, designed a clever method to help marine creatures avoid his dam. He had his fishway structure patented in 1837. While there are several ways to construct a successful fish ladder, McFarland’s was the first of its kind to earn a patent. Using fish ladders is quite common today, especially in rough waters where fish have difficulty swimming upstream. ^[2]

8 Biodiversity

Wildlife crossings have definitely improved the conservation of wildlife. The result is an increase in animal populations within those areas and greater biodiversity among species. Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. In a habitat or ecosystem, biodiversity provides natural and biological resources for its inhabitants. When biodiversity decreases, all species can suffer a lack of resources and even the death of living populations.

In Japan, engineers have constructed “Turtle Tunnels” underneath train tracks to preserve the turtle population and to ensure trains do not decimate the turtle population. A similar turtle tunnel was built in Massachusetts under Route 44. The road divided two populations of spotted turtles, limiting their potential survivability—with fewer turtles from a different genetic pool, the adaptability to the changing environment and climate lessens. The turtles need”new blood” to survive.^[3]

7 From Mice to Grizzlies

In Canada, the Banff National Park is now home to 44 wildlife passages: 6 overpasses and 38 underpasses. These wildlife crossings were first constructed as part of a road improvement project beginning in 1978. These bridges allow wild animals passage over the Trans-Canada Highway, which sees almost 18,000 cars per day traveling through the park. Currently, numerous different species have used the bridge, including deer, lynx, coyotes, wolves, wolverines, and bears.

Monitoring by wildlife cameras shows that various species have different preferences for how to escape from traffic. Grizzlies, deer, and moose prefer the open air of overpasses, while cougars are more likely to stay hidden in dark shadows or under bridges with ample coverings provided by tunnel walls. Black and brown bears might choose either option depending on who or what they encounter during their wanderings through town. Many of the small culverts prove useful to the carious mice, voles, and other small critters that call the park home.^[4]

6 Christmas Crabs

Thousands of wildlife crossings exist all over the world, including a crab bridge on Christmas Island in Australia. Christmas Island is in the Indian Ocean and is home to approximately 45 million fire-engine red crabs. These crabs make their home on an island measuring only 52 square miles with a human population of about 2,000.

To help the crabs out while they breed and spawn, their human neighbors constructed a bridge over the main road so the crabs could cross safely from forest to ocean. The crab bridge has become a tourist attraction in its own right, and people travel from all over the world to see the crabs cross over the bridge. It is quite a sight to see these brightly colored crabs crawling over this 16-foot man-made bridge. Additional underpasses also assist the crabs, but the bridge is by far more spectacular to watch.^[5]

5 Avoiding A Cat-astrophe

The state of Florida has constructed over twenty wildlife crossings to help save the endangered Florida panther. The Florida Panther is a rare, elusive animal that was nearly hunted to extinction in the 1970s. Besides being hunted, panther deaths by vehicular collision are a very large threat. Intensive human intervention over 40 years ago has helped the panther population grow from 20 individuals to an estimated population at least ten times greater than it would have been without our help.

Unfortunately, these beautiful cats are still very much endangered even with the construction of the underpasses created for their use. Panthers need a continuous habitat to roam and hunt. As a result, the wildlife corridors are crucial for their survival. Covered with the plants and flowers of the area, the wildlife corridors in Florida give panthers the connected habitat range they need for survival and to increase their numbers. (Unfortunately, these crossings won’t offer any help to the Carolina Panthers this year!)^[6]

4 No Monkeying Around

Monkey Bridges are built in Costa Rica to deter animals from using electrical wires to move from place to place and accidentally getting electrocuted. Since the installation of monkey bridges throughout Costa Rica, monkeys have learned to use them instead of the less safe alternatives. Monkey bridges are generally made from rope and allow the primates to safely get from place to place.

Since their installation, it hasn’t been only monkeys that have used the bridges. Other animals have also been spotted using them, including sloths, anteaters, and even porcupines. Apparently, the animals know a good thing when they see it, and many animals have been seen using the bridges with their babies on their backs. It’s quite a sight to see a monkey crossing a bridge overhead while traveling through the rainforest of Costa Rica. I’m not monkeying around when I say wildlife bridges are a great idea!^[7]

3 Over the Down Under Bridge

In Australia, wildlife bridges and tunnels have been successfully used by koalas, who initially were thought to be unable to figure them out. Darryl Jones, an ecologist from Griffith University in Australia, had to “eat his words” after discovering that within three weeks of their construction in 2016, koalas were using the bridges and tunnels built for them without fail. It’s a good thing, too, because koalas are inarguably the most adorable animal in the world.

Passageways built for animals in Australia often have lush greenery on them, making it practically impossible for the animals to realize they are traveling over a man-made structure, leading more species to embrace using these corridors. Australia is also home to a wildlife bridge that was constructed originally to help squirrel gliders. Instead, wrens, finches, and other feathered wildlife are also known to use this bridge.^[8]

2 Keeping It Natural

Since the 1990s, thousands of wildlife crossings have been constructed in America. These include underground tunnels and bridges that can safely accommodate a variety of animals, including elk or moose. These corridors reduce road collisions with landscape features that reconnect them back to their habitats—and these newly built ones are more advanced because they make sure not only cars but also pedestrians (when desired) get a safe passage across highways.

Wildlife crossings are becoming more popular for providing connectivity between different areas of land. Engineers construct these habitat corridors using the natural vegetation found in the surrounding areas. Wildlife bridges are covered in native plants and trees to make them appear like a natural part of the landscape and help invite animal passage. The crossings often work most effectively when implemented alongside highway fencing, placed strategically at one or both sides so that wildlife can be funneled toward it by an exit corridor made up primarily of these green bridges.^[9]

1 Going Bigger

The largest wildlife crossing in the world has recently undergone construction in California, just northwest of Los Angeles. This crossing is to serve as a model for the rest of the world. Its location at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains will provide safe access over the 101 freeway for pumas, deer, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, lizards, and many other species. It will also have a pedestrian and bike path.

This wildlife crossing, named the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, is an overpass-style bridge stretching across ten lanes of the Ventura Freeway. It is expected to be completed by year’s end of 2025. This particular wildlife crossing is being constructed in response to the dwindling population of mountain lions in the area. Unable to cross the freeway safely, lions have become genetically isolated, and their numbers have sadly decreased.

An underpass previously built near the current construction site was supposed to facilitate mountain lion crossing under the freeway. Unfortunately, several mountain lions were killed attempting to travel the underpass. When the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is complete, mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains will be able to reach the Simi Valley Mountains and beyond. It is the hope of conservationists and animal lovers alike that the mountain lions in the area will see a spike in their population and diversity. As a Southern California resident, I very much look forward to visiting this wildlife bridge when it is complete.^[10]