Mountain lion kills pets, seen snatching cat in California; residents concerned | Video​on January 24, 2025 at 3:21 am

SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS, Calif. — WARNING: Some may find above video disturbing.

Residents in a California neighborhood say a mountain lion on the prowl has killed multiple pets. Neighbors who want to scare the cougar off say they don’t have many options, highlighting a growing conflict over the way the predators are handled.

A home security camera recently captured the mountain lion walking away with a cat in its jaws in a Santa Cruz Mountains neighborhood.

A woman shared the video on Facebook and said the mountain lion has been going on and near her property for the last two weeks, sometimes more than once a night.

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Video captured what appears to be a family of mountain lions at the Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.

Edgar Guzman lives in the area, and, after ABC San Francisco affiliate KGO showed him the Ring video, he said he’s concerned.

“Yeah, because I have a little dog; he’s like a cat,” Guzman said.

ABC7 spoke with Quinton Martins, the principal investigator for Living with Lions.

He said it’s important to understand if you’re living in an area with predators, you should understand them.

“For example, to know that a mountain lion could jump 15 feet high,” Martins said.

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Martins said deer is really its prey. But, if livestock or domestic animals are not in an enclosure, mountain lions will simply be the carnivores that they are.

“Unless you protect your animals, they’re going to be targeted,” Martins said.

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A Santa Cruz County dog named Bella is making a miraculous recovery after surviving mountain lion bite marks that punctured her skull.

In a move to protect the state’s mountain lions, in 2020 the California Department of Fish and Wildlife expanded what’s called their depredation policy. It prioritizes non-lethal measures to resolve conflicts with mountain lions.

“From a biologist point of view and conservationist point of view, yeah I’d say yes we have seen a significant drop in lion mortalities,” Martins said. “I would imagine that some landowners feel that they have their hands tied.”

Martins said trying to remove a mountain lion from your property is rarely the solution.

“If you’re living in an area where you have predators, and you remove the predator, but you don’t fix the problem, another predator is just going to move in and take its place,” Martins said.

Josh Rosenau with the Mountain Lion Foundation said the right kinds of precautions can prove successful.

“If you put in those bright lights, you put in those fences, put in those noise makers, you teach the lion where it’s OK to be and where it’s not OK to be. They learn. And so there is good evidence of that,” Rosenau said.

Mountain lions in the Santa Cruz Mountains are part of an area being evaluated for endangered species consideration.

For more information on sightings, policies and more, Martins encourages people to visit this this website here.