Bobcats Getting Slaughtered On Mountain Roads
Written by 991KBU on May 21, 2019
Mountain lions are not the only wild cats in the local mountains … and now comes word that bobcats are being killed by cars in an alarming number recently.
Six bobcats have been struck and killed by vehicles in the Santa Monica Mountains over the past three months.
Two of those bobcats had been outfitted with radio collars as part of the National Park Service’s study of urban big cats.
And one of those bobcats was a nursing mother.
That’s very bad news for at least one bobcat kitten.
The other was an adult male who had survived the Woolsey Fire before being killed by a car on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas.
And while the vehicle strikes are alarming … they are only the second most-common cause of death for local bobcats.
Number one???
Mange is the most common cause of death … and bobcats get mangy when their defense systems are weakened by having consumed poison … usually rat poison working its way up the food chain.
The bobcats that are getting hit by cars have all been on the other side of the hill.
Bobcats have been killed on Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway in Calabasas … and Potrero and Lynn roads in Thousand Oaks.
But bobcats live in Malibu … we’ve seen them here at Trancas.
Biologists say they do not recall any other period with so many bobcats killed by vehicles over such a short period of time.
How to prevent the bobcat deaths???
Rangers say it’s entirely on the drivers.
Slow down and keep your eyes open … particularly in open areas where critters like to try to dart out across the roads.
In the past 15 years … at least 18 mountain lions have also been struck and killed by vehicles in the Santa Monica Mountains.
