One stretch of highway is isolating a small group of the cats in the Santa Monica Mountains, away from the rest of their species.
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According to the Los Angeles Times, the ramp is used by 15,000 vehicles every day.
John Benson, a wildlife ecologist at the UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, and a team of researchers examined 13 years of genetic and tracking data gathered by the National Park Service to check on the survival odds of mountain lions in the Santa Monica mountain range.
Failing to build this wildlife crossing could mean mountain lion extinction in the region within the next 50 years. But unfortunately the long-term scenario is very uncertain. Presumably, the lion species will not survive for longer. There are just two male lions dominating most of the breeding in the Santa Monica Mountains. With the entry of almost no new cats in the region, the gene pool in local lions has become monotonous and in the absence of more genetic diversity, they will be at extinction risk.
Mountain lions need new mates to sustain their genetic diversity, which is not possible if they are not allowed to move around the area.
According to the National Park Service, which has been keeping a close watch on the pumas, only one new member had joined the pack since 2002.
But displaced mountain lions could cause a more immediate risk for people.
Conservationists believe that if nothing is done to help mountain lionsto breed healthily in the Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles then there are chances that they might face extinction in the coming 50 years or much earlier.
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Statewide, the mountain lion population has actually improved since the 1960s, when a bounty program to kill lions considered a threat to livestock rearing came to an end.
