National Park Service biologist Seth Riley is the Puma expert in the Los Angeles basin where three healthy kittens were born last month............As discussed on this blog consistently, unless the California Department of Transportation comes up with the $10 million needed to create a wildlife corridor at the Lost Hills Interchange on the 101 Freeway, it is likely that in our lifetime inbreeding defects will appear in the 10 or so Pumas that call our region home-----With the concerned environmentally minded Hollywood folks that live in Los Angeles, it would seem "the folks" could easily pony up the $10 million needed to get this corridor built pronto

A message from 89.3 KPCC rick meril shared an article with you: SoCal mountain lion cubs  show signs of inbreeding Scientists and ecologists celebrated the births of three mountain lion kittens in the Santa Monica mountains last month, but new information about  those cubs may prove troubling. Read the full story: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2014/01/09/35471/socal-mountain-lion-cubs -show-signs-of-inbreeding/ Scientists and ecologists celebrated the births of three mountain lion kittens in the Santa Monica mountains last  month, but new information about those cubs may prove troubling. DNA testing shows inbreeding in these new cubs, and  that could pose yet another challenge for the big cats who  already  face many issues surviving in close proximity to freeways, people and one another. Over the years, researchers have found seven mountain lions  that were the products of inbreeding, Seth Riley, a wildlife  ecologist with the National Park Service, told the  Associated Press. Riley says the kittens were healthy but there's concern that  without new blood, eventually inbreeding could  cause physical  defects, such as heart problems and sterility. The  lions live in a  patchwork of local, state and federal parkland that stretches westward from Los Angeles into Ventura County. "The way mountain lion populations work is that  all young  males typically disperse and even half of the young females disperse," Riley told Take Two. "It's almost  impossible in this situation." The area is surrounded by densely populated  areas and is  bounded by such major highways as U.S. 101, which is heavily  developed along most of its length. Young  male mountain lions that typically would seek their own territories  have been unable  to leave and have been killed by an older male,  Riley said. Only one puma, P-12, has been able to cross the 101 freeway in the 11 years researchers have been tracking the animals, Riley told Take Two. But despite bringing new DNA  material into the area, he sired the inbred cubs with his own  daughter.  "The major issue is the fact that the 101 is  just a development corridor, so there's almost no place where there's natural habitat  next to the freeway," Riley said on Take Two.  "They seem to be trying to disperse, they bump right up against development on the  101 or they bump up against the 405... many times they end up  getting killed by an adult male, who they  can't escape from, or they get hit on the 405 or somewhere else." A mountain lion was killed by a car on the  101 in October 2013.  The recreation area, state parks, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the California Department  of Transportation and others have long sought about $10 million  in funding to create a wildlife corridor in the Agoura Hills  area — essentially, a tunnel  that would allow the mountain lions  and other animals to cross  under U.S. 101.  With contributions from the  Associated Press