LA MESA, Calif. — A mountain lion was caught on camera night crawling in a La Mesa neighborhood.
The sighting happened Sunday night west of State Route 125 near Jackson Drive. The homeowner says he has spotted creatures crawling around his backyard on his home surveillance video before and the most interesting was a skunk and her babies.
That was until he spotted a big old cat scaling his fence in La Mesa.
“That’s a big size cat that’s for sure,” said Justin Bowlds.
CBS 8 showed Bowlds the video of the mountain creeping around in a neighbor’s backyard.
“That’s directly across the street from me, that’s my neighbor,” said Bowlds.
The video came from Eric Polyn’s home surveillance video. He was not available for an on-camera interview but shared the video with CBS 8.
We reached out to a cougar expert who confirmed this a mountain lion and possibly a recently disbursed juvenile.
“A little uneasy knowing a big cat is running around my neighborhood since a lot of us have small animals and dogs and a lot of us are out here at night, we’re always walking our dogs,” said Bowlds.
The area the mountain lion was spotted in was west of SR-125 and Jackson Drive in La Mesa near Lemon Avenue Elementary School.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says this is an unusual sighting because it’s not a typical habitat where you will find deer for pumas to prey on for food.
However, CBS 8 has recently covered more cougar sightings in urban areas including in Mira Mesa and Oceanside.
“The only thing I think is Helix up on the mountain they are coming through. I mean did he come under the underpass?,” said Bowlds.
The homeowner who caught the big cat on camera says they reported the sighting.
CDFW says it is aware of the mountain lion sighting and have not received reports of threats to public safety but they are monitoring the situation.
“You wouldn’t think that kind of animal would be rolling through here. You see coyotes every once in a while, not something like that, that’s the first,” said Bowlds.
The dog owner says he’ll keep his yellow Labrador, Vera, on a tighter leash during their walks.
“Definitely keep an eye out,” said Bowlds.
CDFW encourages anyone to report a sighting here.