An Escondido family got a huge surprise after their doorbell camera captured what they say is a mountain lion roaming around on their front porch earlier this week.
The event happened early Thursday morning near Rockwood Road and Old Ranch Road. In the video, the animal can be seen approaching the door before turning left into the side yard.
Mountain lions in California:
The Reisner family says when they heard the Ring alert, they thought it was a package being delivered to their home, which is not that far from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
"You could go there and see animals like that," Aaron Reisner said, referring to the Safari Park. "That was a majestic cat. It looked so beautiful, and so to see it out in the wild like that, it was awesome."
The family says they have seen bobcats, deer and coyotes in their neighborhood, but this is the first time they've seen what appears to be a mountain lion.
"I just posted on Nextdoor, and kind of just texted some of my neighborhood friends, just because of the fact that there are people that get up and go jogging in the morning, and there are kids riding their bikes and walking to school," Katie Reisner said. "I just wanted to make sure everybody was aware of it because if that catches you off guard, it's not a fun surprise."
This event comes after a mountain lion was spotted on camera prowling the streets of downtown Oceanside last month. A few days later, a mountain lion was found dead in the city after being struck by a car. It has not been confirmed whether the killed mountain lion is the same one caught on camera.
Two weeks ago, a 21-year-old man died in a mountain lion attack in a remote area northeast of Sacramento in Northern California. It was the first deadly encounter with a mountain lion in the state in two decades. The man's 18-year-brother, who was also attacked, was expected to recover, authorities said.
What to do if you encounter a mountain lion
If you're going to be moving around, such as hiking or camping in mountain lion country, Megan Senour, human wildlife conflict specialist at the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, suggests going with another person or in a group, make noise, talk, or play music to avoid a surprise interaction, which is usually when those interactions occur.
"A lot of folks recreate in mountain lion country without incidents. So it really is — to emphasize — it's incredibly rare for there to be even an interaction in general. Mountain lions want to avoid us just as much as we want to avoid them. They don't want to see us — the weird two legged hairless creatures walking around. We're just as odd for them as they are for us for seeing them," Senour said.
Most mountain lion interactions do tend to involve pets or small animals, according to Senour.
Make sure you're not letting your pets into the backyard by themselves and are closely monitoring them, keeping them on leashes and indoors whenever possible, she said.
"We typically have rule of thumb for leash walking is nothing that's longer than 6ft and it's non retractable," she said.
