A trail camera captured footage of a mountain lion prowling in the tall grasses close to one Santee resident’s home early Monday morning.
Video obtained from Santee resident Paul Burke shows the lanky feline in the darkness, its eye reflecting white in the camera, looking down a hill for a few seconds before walking slowly and low to the ground right past the camera’s vision. The time stamp on the video shows the encounter occurred at 4:12 a.m.
Burke told NBC 7 he installed the trail cameras only a few weeks prior on his property, which faces the West Sycamore Canyon, expecting to get coyotes, raccoons and birds, which his cameras have also captured.
However, he didn’t expect to capture a mountain lion.
“I love the wildlife but am a little concerned since I have two small dogs. The coyotes I am not worried about, but the mountain lions do give me pause,” Burke said.
Not far from the West Sycamore Canyon lies the Mission Trails Open Space, a scenic open space spanning thousands of acres of natural San Diego landscape.
In November 2025, a family living in Oceanside were surprised to see their doorbell-camera video captured a mountain lion family visiting their porch.
Back in 2024, two mountain lions were struck and killed on San Diego County roadways within three months.
Half of California is considered mountain lion habitat, but seeing or interacting with them is still rare.
A trail camera captured footage of a mountain lion prowling in the tall grasses close to one Santee resident’s home early Monday morning.