Mountain lion caught on camera in Tesoro Viejo in Madera County

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A resident in Madera County was shocked to see a large animal casually roaming past their home.

Security camera footage captured the moment a mountain lion walked by Saturday night around 11 pm in Tesoro Viejo.

It's unclear if there were any more sightings of the big cat

"I looked at it, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's a pretty big cat,'" homeowner Justin Fahey said. "It's a cougar."

He and his partner Amy Conley say a mountain lion roaming the streets of their usually quiet Madera County neighborhood.

Surveillance video shows the cougar on what looks like a casual stroll.

You can see it stepping over a walkway and going through a driveway before disappearing into the night.

Just a few feet away from that driveway, Conley and Fahey were inside, up with their newborn daughter, who is only a few weeks old.

"We have a doggy door," Fahey said. "So I went to the doggy door, shut the door, and locked it. It was kinda frightful at first."

Conley and Fahey say they are no strangers to seeing wildlife in their Tesoro Viejo neighborhood. Action News' SkyView30 video shows the low-lying Valley where the couple has seen cows, foxes, and coyotes.

But never a mountain lion.

While the mountain lion seemed to be on a harmless nighttime stroll through the neighborhood, Dale Anderson at the Project Survival Cat Haven in Dunlap told Action News there are a few things you should do if you ever find yourself face-to-face with a cougar.

"If you have a jacket," Anderson said, "pull it up over your head so that you look a whole lot bigger."

"Then just back away from the animal going backward," he said

Anderson said the cougar spotted in Tesoro Viejo appeared young and healthy. He said it did not seem to be hunting for food and probably just got off course a bit.

Conley and Fahey said none of their neighbors have reported missing animals or any damage. The scare is a good reminder the foothills and mountains are not far away.

"I just posted it to bring more awareness to everybody," Conley said. "I think it's more so just good to be aware, in terms of if you have small children, cats, dogs, things like that."

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