Across the globe, roads are slicing through wild cat territory — turning corridors into extinction zones. Panthera is racing to reverse this deadly trend. Our 2022 research ranked the top 36 apex predators threatened by roadways around the globe, with tigers, clouded leopards and leopards in Asia being some of those species at highest risk.
Every crossing is a risk. For a jaguar in Costa Rica, a puma in Washington, or an oncilla in the Andes, roads aren’t just barriers — they’re often the end. Yet there is hope — and science is lighting the way. Join us in building a world where roads can lead to protection, not extinction.
In the cloud forests of Costa Rica, Panthera is using long-term research to transform infrastructure into lifelines. Costa Rica is rich in biodiversity, but many animals are killed by cars on the road. This poses a risk to vulnerable species, including wild cats like oncillas. Wildlife-vehicle collisions with larger animals, like tapirs, can also endanger humans. Reconnecting ecosystems and a reduction in the amount of wildlife killed on roads is one of Panthera Costa Rica’s main priorities.
Panthera has worked collaboratively in Costa Rica for over 15 years as part of the Wild Cats Friendly Road Project.
Costa Rica’s Ruta 2, along the Pan American highway, is situated between Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park, Los Quetzales National Park, and Los Santos Forest Reserve. An estimated 3,500 wild animals are killed by cars along Route 2, in a section of 45 km, each year.
The team here is cleaning out culverts — passageways constructed under a highway or road to allow water to flow through —and then monitoring them to see if animals are utilizing them or if animals will start using them to safely cross under Route 2. They can offer a temporal safe passage during the dry season.
Since 2020, the team has documented roadkill and studied the forests surrounding Route 2, to create a massive, long-term dataset. Detailing what kind of species live in the surrounding forests and how many of them fall victim to road collisions each year. This dataset is the foundation for the mitigation measures Panthera is presenting to CONAVI (the national Agency in charge of Route 2) and to SINAC (the national agency in charge of the protected areas). Through a team effort, we are on the way to building safe roads for wildlife and us too!
This research is now guiding national wildlife crossing protocols in Costa Rica, with support from partners like MOPT, MINAE, VAVS, communities the Inter-American Development Bank and many others.
The work supports the protection of Costa Rican biodiversity for years to come. Nos vemos!
Being struck and killed by a car might be the most obvious threat roads pose to wild cats.
“As scientists, we’re told not to get attached in this work. But it's impossible not to. We’re told that the animals we study and follow aren’t ours. And they definitely aren’t. I know this. Yet, Yenewes was the heart of this place. And without her, the forest feels a little quieter,” writes Matt Mahan, Panthera Field Technician, in this touching tribute about a cougar named Yenewes who was struck and killed by a car in June 2025.
But roads also pose another, hidden threat to wild cats: genetic isolation.
In February 2022, Panthera scientists collared a young cougar named Bjorn on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. When Bjorn struck out to find his own territory, he walked 680 miles over six months — far enough to reach San Francisco or Billings, Montana. But he ended up just 30 miles from where he started.
The Olympic Peninsula is surrounded by water on three sides and cut off by the I-5 highway on the other, effectively creating an island cougars can’t leave. That isolation comes with a cost. When roads block movement, cats can’t access new mates. Over time, they’re forced to breed with close relatives — siblings, cousins, even parents — which can lead to inbreeding and health issues. Pumas on the Olympic Peninsula exhibit the lowest genetic diversity of any population in the Pacific Northwest, and the highest inbreeding.
The Panthera Puma Program is working to change that.
In western Washington, we collaborate with the Lower Elwha Klallam, Skokomish, Makah, Jamestown S'Klallam, and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribes, the Quinault Indian Nation, and the Washington State Department of Transportation on the Olympic Cougar Project, which aims to connect the genetically isolated pumas of the Olympic Peninsula with other puma populations in Washington State.
We’re also helping assess where and how to build bridges and underpasses along Interstate-5 to increase wildlife movements between the Cascade Mountains and the Olympic Peninsula. We serve on technical advisory groups for several statewide connectivity projects, including the 2025 Washington Habitat Connectivity Action Plan and 2024 Southwest Washington I-5 Wildlife Crossings Conceptual Design Report, turning local wildlife data and our wild cat expertise into real-world solutions.
When wild cats are connected, ecosystems thrive — and so do we all.
Panthera’s vision is a connected future — where roads don’t divide but coexist with ecosystems. We are scaling this science-backed approach across Latin America and planning new interventions in Africa and Asia. With your support, we can turn highways into safe ways — for every cat, everywhere.
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© Sebastian Kennerknecht
