SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Trail cameras across San Diego County have captured multiple sightings of mountain lions this year, including cubs and mothers with adolescents, raising questions about whether there has been a surge in local births.
Early this month, cameras inside Santa Ysabel Preserve captured 3 mountain lions lounging around a watering hole — drinking and sometimes playing. Robin Parks, a longtime Mountain Lion Foundation volunteer, says it appears to be a mother cougar with two adolescents.
"This is what nature looks like, A mother taking charge and taking care of young ones," Parks said.
Those aren't the only maternal moments caught on camera.
In January, a pregnant mountain lion was spotted in the Descanso area, near the Cleveland National Forest. Recently, the same camera recorded 3 mountain lions — a mom and two young cougars.
In the San Dieguito River Park in the Escondido area, cameras captured a cub in January wandering down a trail. Mom was spotted in other photos.
Parks described how mothers raise their young in the wild.
"She teaches them how to hunt. Deer is the first thing on the menu," Parks said. "She teaches them what not to do. After 18 months or so, she discharges them to be on their own."
The photos have sparked questions about whether there has been a boom in mountain lion births. The last population estimate, from several years ago, put the number of mountain lions in San Diego County between 90 and 200.
The last so-called boom in Southern California came in 2020, when National Park Service biologists declared it the "Summer of Kittens" after finding an unprecedented 13 kittens born to 5 mothers during that summer in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills. At the time, biologists called the level of reproduction a healthy sign, two years after wildfires scorched the region.
Back in the San Diego area, nobody is declaring any summer of kittens.
"They don't really have a birthing season, could be year around," Parks said. "Spring, summertime is often, but not always."
Parks says he doesn't know of any evidence of a surge in local births. As for the flurry of photos, he points to an increase in trail cameras documenting wildlife.
I reached out to state Fish and Wildlife officials, and am waiting to hear back.
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