Some west Sonoma County residents are on high alert after several mountain lions were seen on camera walking through their neighborhood last week.

Most people in Southern California have never seen a mountain lion in the wild. And never want to. Yet, these sleek, wild, predator cats roam the foothills and mountains from Ventura to San Diego, slipping in and out of millions of backyards and dozens of local canyons mostly unseen,

After a fatal mountain lion attack killed a woman hiking in Colorado in January 2026, a separate sighting forced a trail closure.

Horsetooth Mountain Open Space reopens after a temporary closure due to a close encounter with a curious mountain lion.