Coyotes Cross Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Before Official Opening
A wild coyote crossed the unfinished 210-foot-long Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills, California, weeks before its official December opening, petapixel.com reported.
Early Crossings on the 101 Freeway
The coyote climbed the southern slope of the bridge at approximately 6 a.m. PDT on October 28. A second coyote appeared on the structure the following day, captured by remote wildlife cameras installed by researchers.
Construction continues on the $114 million overpass above the 10-lane Ventura Freeway, which carries more than 300,000 vehicles a day. While birds, bugs, and a western fence lizard navigated the site earlier, these animals mark the first large mammals documented on the bridge surface itself.
Fundraising for the project began in 2014 through efforts by the National Wildlife Federation and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for December 2, 2026.
“We’re not officially open yet, but that didn’t stop our first wildlife visitor from showing up early!” the crossing’s official Facebook page stated, as cited by yahoo.com. The post added, “And to everyone who wondered how wildlife would know where to go without signs … apparently, they’ve figured it out.”
Biologists Plan to Monitor Species Presence and Responses
Biologists plan to install additional remote cameras in early November to study species presence and animal responses to the structure. Seth Riley, the wildlife branch lead at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, noted the broader scope of the initiative.
“We want to understand how effective it is in reconnecting an ecosystem that has been divided by the freeway for decades. That is a much bigger scientific question and answering it will take years.”
Researchers also intend to deploy bio loggers in animals such as deer to gather physiological data, including heart rates, to measure potential stress levels during transit. Preconstruction monitoring, such as GPS tracking and genetic studies, established baseline data before construction began. Other wildlife, including a mountain lion and her two cubs, a mule deer, bobcats, and gray foxes, have been documented using terrain adjacent to the overpass.
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