He's the "Brad Pitt of the cat world" and he's been living alone for 10 years in Los Angeles, isolated from other mountain lions by two massive freeways. But soon, this emblem of Angelenos' coexistence with wildlife will be able to safely wander further afield - the $88 million Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing begins construction this spring, giving him access to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, where about a dozen lions live. It also will save money for the state. In the last three years, an average of 20 large-animal crashes per day in California have cost the state more than $1 billion. In the US, less than two dozen of the 1,000 wildlife crossings are overpasses. Los Angeles is the only major city in the western hemisphere that is home to lions, but without the wildlife overpass, the lions may be locally extinct by 2050.
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