Leslie Sciocchetti

A mountain lion saunters along a drainage culvert near Whispering Hills East Trail, a short distance from San Juan Hills High School. Many students use the trail to get to school and for training runs.

Without Ring cameras and other types of monitoring devices we might not even know we live with big cats in our midst.

More people than ever are capturing wildlife they might not notice without them. One area resident, Leslie Sciocchetti, captured footage of a mountain lion in her back yard.

The big cat was sighted near the Whispering Hills East Trail, a trail that many students use to get to and from school. Other groups like cross country and the power walking class use the trail for training purposes.

Open space areas exist in the vicinity of San Juan Hills High School, which can provide a habitat for cougars. The wild area around the school is maintained by the Santa Margarita Water District, with hiking and riding trails open to the public.

Also adjacent to the school is the 1,530 Acre Prima Deschecha Landfill, which has recently expanded its footprint into a Zone 4 in order to accommodate area waste disposal for another 75 more years – or until 2102. 

But human activity around the area, including the development of Rancho Mission Viejo, under development for new housing, could be pushing the wild cats closer to humans.

Additionally, catastrophic wildfires such as the 2024 Airport fire, which destroyed 24,000 acres of habitat around nearby Santiago Peak, may also have caused animals who used to live in that area to migrate closer to our neighborhoods.

Lions, as they are sometimes called, can live in urban areas of southern California. Most famously the cat known as P-22 lived in and around Griffith Park in Los Angeles for many years completely surrounded by urban areas. He lived in that 9 square mile area for over 10 years.