Letters to the Editor: Our freeways kill mountain lions. Caltrans should fix that — now

To the editor: Thanks to the Los Angeles Times for its editorial on the recent mountain lion crossing of the 405 Freeway and on Assembly Bill 1788, which would ban second-generation rodenticides in California. P-61, the puma who made the rare corssing in the Santa Monica Mountains, is at risk of being killed either by trying once again to traverse the 405 or by ingesting poison.

Californians agree that both overpasses and underpasses should be built to serve as wildlife corridors, and that banning rat poisons is important to survival of mountain lions and other wild animals. The state Department of Transportation should be moving forward to build the wildlife crossing for mountain lions. It seems bizarre to me that it would expand freeways without taking care of the corridors at the same time.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation have been raising money for the crossings, and plans have been drawn up. Now, we need Caltrans to support these projects.

Linda Lyke, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The Times’ thoughtful yet alarming editorial is not fervent enough. Pumas have as much right to the landscape — where they contribute to the web of life, while overbreeding humans merely “develop” it — as do the trespassers.

In Europe and Canada, wildlife corridors are provided. We shouldn’t even have to debate the need here. Just do it.

Robin Groves, Pacific Palisades