I was thumbing through the LA Times Extra earlier when I came across an article about a mountain lion killed on the 405 freeway. Being from a small, middle-of-nowhere area, being shoulder to shoulder with the Sierra Nevada mountains, animals of all kinds get hit by motorists on a fairly regular basis. This story is tragic simply because the lion in question, a 15-month old cub named P-18, was one of "roughly a half dozen" living in the Santa Monica Mountains near LA. In my neck of the woods, we have plenty of mountain lions, bears, and other wildlife; we're spoiled by it. To have an animal, one of about 6 of its kind, be killed as a result of human encroachment, is tragic.
I guess I was raised to coexist with wildlife a little better. From the time I was a kid and had a bear raid my campsite to as recently as this week with having a skunk sneak up on me, I've respected their space. Most of my species seems to have a hard time doing that, especially my Angelino brethren that have developed urban sprawl to such a level as they have. We'd be less horrible a species if we learned to get along with all the other animals, not vilify them, and give a shit about them, partly by not neglecting to report an injury to one of the endangered ones in our neighborhood.