{"id":493050,"date":"2026-02-23T00:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493050\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T00:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:45:15","slug":"mountain-lion-trapped-by-san-diego-county-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493050\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountain lion trapped by San Diego County family"},"content":{"rendered":"

FALLBROOK, Calif. (FOX 5\/KUSI) \u2014 A Fallbrook family got an unexpected and unsettling surprise this week when a mountain lion turned up in a backyard trap set to catch whatever had been killing their animals.<\/p>\n

The discovery came after several animals went missing from the Hernandez family property, including chickens kept in a henhouse and four cats, one of which was pregnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a big hole on the rooftop and there were chickens missing and there were feathers all over the place,\u201d said Sonia Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Hernandez said her mother-in-law was especially upset about the missing cats.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was going to have babies soon,\u201d Hernandez said about one of the cats.<\/p>\n

Believing a coyote was responsible, Hernandez\u2019s father-in-law built a cage trap and set it on the property.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night, Hernandez\u2019s husband checked the trap and found a mountain lion calmly lying inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he woke everybody up, and we got up, and we were all surprised how big it was and how it looked,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

Hernandez said her immediate concern was for her three children, ages 5 to 9.<\/p>\n

She said that she and her family breathed a sigh of relief, then wondered what to do next after having a mountain lion<\/a> in their possession.<\/p>\n

Hernandez called 911. On Friday morning, state wildlife officials, including a warden, arrived at the home. The cougar was released from the trap and ran off.<\/p>\n

The decision to release the animal surprised and frustrated the family, who had expected it would be relocated far from their rural neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t really happy about that because of our children and animals,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

Some neighbors shared those concerns.<\/p>\n

Jeanette Villegas, who owns horses on her property, said she worries the mountain lion could return.<\/p>\n

\u201cReleasing that animal knowing it has a food source, I believe it may come back,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cAnd I walk the property in the evening to check on my animals, and who knows if it\u2019s watching me. It could be lurking behind a building, a bush, anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez said she understands that wildlife officials must follow protocol, even if she disagrees with the outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way they explained it to us, hopefully he doesn\u2019t, but we do have that fear it will come back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to wildlife officials, state law requires that any mountain lion that is privately trapped must be released in the same general area where it was captured.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FALLBROOK, Calif. (FOX 5\/KUSI) \u2014 A Fallbrook family got an unexpected and unsettling surprise this week when a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,197904,18924,66,197903,323],"class_list":["post-493050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-hernandez-family-property","tag-mountain-lion","tag-science","tag-sonia-hernandez","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}