A 77-pound mountain lion set off a scramble Tuesday as it wandered through San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood before finally being captured as onlookers safely peered from their home windows or stood across the street.
Dozens of officials worked to capture and tranquilize the male cat after warnings were issued advising people to slowly back away if they encountered it.
The wild cat was first seen Monday morning.
“It was so big … not just a regular cat,” said Madrey Hilton, who took video of the animal Monday morning and alerted authorities, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The lion “just looked like it was minding its own business,” Hilton told the newspaper, adding that it scaled the wall and headed into picturesque Lafayette Park, which features two tennis courts, a children’s playground, and an off-leash dog area.
The mountain lion was found Tuesday hiding in a garden between two apartment buildings, San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano Elias said. Authorities shot the feline with tranquilizers three times “to make sure it was completely unconscious,” Elias said. “They covered his eyes and bound its paws, just to make sure it wasn’t going to run anywhere.”
Veterinarians with the San Francisco Zoo then examined the cat before placing it in a cage. It will undergo further testing to ensure it is healthy before it’s released to the wild, Elias said.
The 2-year-old male cougar was tagged and last spotted in Saratoga, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of San Francisco, he said. Cougars, mountain lions, panthers and pumas are the same cat species — puma concolor, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance website.
Mountain lion sightings are rare in San Francisco, where coyotes abound.
In 2020, a young mountain lion was spotted sleeping in a planter box along a normally busy street and looking at his reflection in the glass of an office tower in downtown San Francisco. The animal was later safely captured and released into the wild.
Experts say the animals come up along the Pacific coast from the hills south of the city, but eventually find their way back to the wilderness.
Angela Yip, a spokesperson for the city’s Animal Care and Control, said there was no threat to the public.
Mountain lions also live in Los Angeles, one of the world’s only megacities of 10 million-plus, where large felines thrive by breeding, hunting and maintaining territory within urban boundaries.
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