Before wild feline was caught, authorities had advised residents to slowly back away if they encountered it
Wildlife officials in San Francisco captured a young mountain lion that was spotted roaming the streets of the city.
Authorities issued a warning to residents late on Monday, saying a mountain lion had been seen walking the streets in the Pacific Heights neighborhood and advised people to slowly back away from the animal if they encountered it.
They said on Tuesday morning the wild feline had been located, and later managed to capture the animal. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the mountain lion had been tranquilized and will be released into the wild.
The mountain lion was first spotted on Monday morning by a San Francisco resident who took a video of the animal and alerted authorities.
“It was so big … not just a regular cat,” Madrey Hilton told the San Francisco Chronicle. The lion, which “just looked like it was minding its own business”, scaled a wall and headed into Lafayette Park, she told the newspaper.
Mountain lion sightings are rare in San Francisco, where coyotes abound in the city’s many parks, but cougars have been spotted wandering city streets before.
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.
