Two uncollared mountain lions turned up in Woodland Hills neighborhoods within about 12 hours of each other this past week, with Ring camera footage capturing the first cat on Gaona Street next to the Woodland Hills Golf Course and the second recorded roughly a mile west near Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway.
According to MyNewsLA.com, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy said it reported the sightings Saturday, November 15, 2026. The first lion appeared on doorbell video on Gaona Street on Friday, November 14, at 9:55 p.m., and the second was recorded Saturday, November 15, at 6:38 a.m., near Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway, about a mile west of the first location, per the outlet's reporting.
A Habitat Under Pressure
Joseph T. Edmiston said the back-to-back sightings illustrate how valuable the Woodland Hills habitat areas are and that the animals are pressed for space, the same report states. The sightings, per that account, correspond with habitat and wildlife-corridor mapping laid out in the conservancy's Big Wild-Topanga State Park North Slope Habitat Conservation Plan, which was adopted in May 2026.
The movement comes as the Woodland Hills Golf Course site sits at the center of a separate land-use fight. The Los Angeles City Planning Department determined the Woodland Hills Country Club site is wildlife habitat for the endangered mountain lion, a finding reported by the Los Angeles Times. That determination forces a proposed housing redevelopment on the site to go through the conventional approval process rather than a streamlined ministerial review, the Times reported.
Conflicting Numbers on the Golf Course Project
Accounts of the proposed redevelopment differ on exactly how the homes would break down. The Los Angeles Times reported a 398-home project consisting of 175 for-sale detached single-family homes, 189 rental apartments in a four-story building, and 34 rent-restricted apartments. The Orange County Register, however, described the same 398-home proposal with a different split: 175 for-sale homes, 223 rental units, and 61 income-restricted units, according to the Register's report.
The Times additionally reported that the proposed project would set aside more than 55,900 square feet for open space. A representative for developer Arrimus Capital told the Times the company would sue the city over the habitat determination, saying, “The city has left us with no choice but to file a lawsuit to enforce the law.”
How Many Lions Share the Range
Regional estimates help explain why sightings keep clustering in the same pockets of the Santa Monica Mountains. The National Park Service estimates that around 10 to 15 mountain lions live in the range at any one time, the Times has reported, with adult males typically needing about 150 miles to roam and adult females needing roughly 50 miles. The same Times report noted that 32 mountain lions in the Los Angeles area have been struck and killed by vehicles since 2002.
Woodland Hills has seen lions turn up in residential settings before. In an earlier incident, a mountain lion was found lounging in a tree in a backyard near Woodlake Avenue and Mariano Street at about 2 p.m., according to ABC7. Homeowner Corrina Bubenheim called 911 after her two German Shepherds alerted her to the animal, which eventually climbed down and made its way into a nearby wash while animal control officers went door-to-door to warn neighbors, ABC7 reported. That backyard was about seven miles east of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which was under construction over the 101 Freeway at the time, per the same account.
A Crossing Meant to Ease the Squeeze
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which spans the Ventura (101) Freeway, has a ribbon-cutting scheduled for Dec. 2 in Agoura Hills, according to MyNewsLA.com's report. The project is designed to give lions and other wildlife safer passage across one of the busiest barriers bisecting their range.
Santa Monica has also seen a lion wander into a populated area. A mountain lion spotted in a yard near 14th Street and Montana Avenue was tranquilized and captured by nightfall, the Times reported, and wildlife officials said that if the animal was healthy, it would be collared and released into suitable habitat within the Santa Monica Mountains. The Times noted that the last reported mountain lion sighting in Santa Monica before that incident was on the Promenade back in 2012.
