Santa Monica police shut down a few local roads on Friday after a mountain lion was reported relaxing in the backyard of a home in the 700 block of 14th Street, near Montana Avenue. Officers and wildlife personnel responded to the residential neighborhood just north of Montana Avenue as officials told nearby residents to stay indoors, keep pets inside and avoid the animal.
Summer Lin reported that no injuries had been reported as of Friday afternoon, even as the response continued near 14th and Montana streets. The Santa Monica Police Department also told anyone who saw the animal to call 9-1-1 immediately from a safe place and provide their location.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived just before noon and was working with local officers to safely remove the mountain lion. Photographs showed the animal appeared to be in good health, but authorities still warned people not to approach or photograph it. The sighting was unusual for Santa Monica, where mountain lions rarely turn up in developed neighborhoods.
The last time one was seen in the city was in 2012, when a mountain lion was discovered on the Promenade, tried to escape before it could be tranquilized and was killed. Researchers with the National Park Service estimate that 10 to 15 adult and subadult mountain lions live in the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas, but the 101 Freeway remains a major barrier and only a handful of crossings have been documented since 2002.
That pressure has only grown in recent years. P-22, the Griffith Park lion that crossed both the 101 and the 405, occupied a roughly 9-square-mile range before he was euthanized in December 2022 after injuries from a vehicle strike and attacks on small dogs. The California Fish and Game Commission then voted 3-0 on Feb. 12, 2026, to list Southern and Central Coast mountain lions as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act.
Friday’s sighting added a more immediate reminder that those risks are not abstract. Wildlife officials were still trying to move the animal safely by Friday afternoon, and residents near the neighborhood were being told to stay inside until it was clear the lion had been removed or had moved on.
