This CA County Is Overrun With Mountain Lions: Report

EL DORADO COUNTY, CA — A Northern California county has a big cat problem.

El Dorado County has long had a higher population of mountain lions, also known as pumas and cougars. But over the last few years, sightings have increased as the area has become overrun with mountain lions, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“Post-2020, you start having people see the lion cross their property, maybe in the late evening or during the day,” said resident Haley Molzahn. "What’s more disturbing is that beforehand, people could yell and scream, and the lion would take off. Now people are yelling and screaming and the lion’s just staring at them, like, ‘Why are you yelling at me?'"

A growing concern about the large felines prompted Molzahn, a former wildlife biologist and veterinarian, to start tracking them last summer. Her project is called the El Dorado County Carnivore Project.

The project, which maintains a map of reported sightings has put a small team of volunteers to work collecting data on mountain lions in the area.

For 12 years before 2023, the county recorded an annual average of about 33 mountain lion attacks on domestic animals. That number jumped up to 97 in 2023 before climbing to 202 in 2024.

The attacks remain strikingly high, County Agricultural Commissioner LeeAnne Mila reported, with 50 incidents recorded from Jan. 1 to April 14, 2025. Most involved sheep and goats, but horses, llamas, and several household pets — six in the past year — were also killed.

“A lot of people are of the thought that the mountain lions will only kill what they’re going to eat, and that’s not true — they also kill for sport,” Mila told the Chronicle. “When they’re coming in and taking a German Shepherd mix at five o’clock in the afternoon in front of the owner, they’re not afraid of anything.”

Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle: This Northern California county is ‘overrun’ with mountain lions. What should be done?