Hollywood Hills Residents Worried About Pets After Mountain Lion Encounter

HOLLYWOOD HILLS (CBSLA.com) — A group of friends got a shock recently when they spotted a large mountain lion from their car in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills.

The rare but not unheard of encounter left quite an impression on the witnesses.

Jamie Hindlin said she was driving with two friends when they saw the large cat crossing the street.

"We backed up, put the brights on and there was just this huge lion just staring us in the face," Hindlin said.

The cat showed no signs of being aggressive, Hindlin said, but she reported the sighting to authorities.

Her friend, Matthew Keegan, recorded a video of the encounter.

Some nearby residents have speculated that the mountain lion could be P-22 -- a tagged mountain lion who made national headlines when it was spotted inside the basement of a Los Feliz home earlier this year.

But Hindlin believes the mountain lion she saw was larger than P-22, which was believed to weigh about 150 pounds.

She said she's concerned about the safety of small pets in the area, including her small dog.

"I don't like it because I have a tiny dog," she said. "I don't even want to take him outside in our own backyard. I will not let his feet touch the ground, and if I do it's for 2 seconds and I pick him up. It's really scary."