Residents in San Francisco’s upscale Outer Sunset neighborhood were urged indoors Friday after a young mountain lion wandered through the streets, setting off an hours-long effort to safely capture the animal.
Wildlife officials and animal-control teams responded during the morning after the big cat was reported near Ulloa Street and 44th Avenue, only a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean.
Shane Jordan said police used bullhorns to order people away from the area and back inside their homes, according to KGO News.
He said residents soon learned the commotion was being caused by a mountain lion roaming through the neighborhood, prompting understandable concern among those nearby.
Videos from the scene showed the animal moving through front yards and slipping beneath windows. In another image, it crouched beneath a bush with its ears raised, appearing alert as crews searched for it.
Mark Mahoney and Grace Erickson said a burst of frantic bird calls led them to look outside. From their window, they watched as the mountain lion hurried across their driveway.
Mahoney told The San Francisco Standard that seeing such a striking animal at close range was thrilling, even as officials worked to control the situation.
The mountain lion later raced down the center of a residential street, weaving between response vehicles. One official briefly pursued it on foot, but the animal managed to escape.
San Francisco’s affluent Outer Sunset neighborhood was placed on alert Friday morning after a mountain lion was seen moving through the streets
Footage showed the large cat running between emergency vehicles as crews tried to keep pace with it
Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira told SFGate that the mountain lion was a young male, estimated to be two or three years old and weighing about 78 pounds
The search intensified when responders attempted to tranquilize the animal, but it bolted before they could secure it. Officials pushed residents and reporters farther back as the lion paused at a street corner, then disappeared into dense vegetation.
About four hours after the initial sighting, crews finally subdued and captured the mountain lion in the middle of the upscale San Francisco neighborhood, ending the tense operation.
The animal was determined to be a male between two and three years old, weighing approximately 78 pounds, Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira told SFGate.
Tira said the lion did not pose a threat to public safety, describing it instead as a young animal that had become stranded in the Outer Sunset area.
According to Tira, the mountain lion had recently separated from its mother and was beginning to search for territory of its own. It likely wandered into the city before becoming unable to find a clear route back to open habitat.
The transition can be especially difficult for young male mountain lions, Tira explained, as they begin navigating unfamiliar surroundings without their mothers.
For these animals, he said, leaving home for the first time means learning to survive and find their way independently.
The first report came in at approximately 7:30 a.m. The city then issued an emergency alert advising residents to avoid the area and reminding them not to run if they unexpectedly encountered the mountain lion.
Officials captured the young mountain lion roughly four hours after it was first reported, bringing the tense Outer Sunset search to a close
Tira said the young male was a dispersing lion who had recently left his mother in search of territory
Tira said the cat likely wandered into the urban area before finding himself trapped with no clear way back to open habitat
Anyone who encountered the cat was told to slowly back away, keep dogs on leashes and scoop up their children.
If the wild cat continued advancing, officials said residents should stand their ground and make themselves appear as large as possible by waving their arms, shouting and throwing objects at it.
But the most important warning was simple: do not run. One sudden movement could trigger the mountain lion’s chase response.
Just after 9am, two animal control vans arrived with a tranquilizer gun after the mountain lion was spotted hiding beneath Mahoney and Erickson’s home, according to The San Francisco Standard.
But the animal managed to evade capture, darting into nearby bushes before crews could get to it.
Just before 10.30am, city and state agencies finally tracked down the elusive beast, with Animal Care and Control, San Francisco Police and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife joining the search.
‘We want everybody to be aware, especially out in that neighborhood,’ Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a video statement at the time. ‘We have eyes on this mountain lion, so just avoid the area, and we will keep you posted.’
Photos taken after the successful capture showed the tranquilized big cat lying motionless on a stretcher as gloved crews gathered around it to carry out a brief health assessment.
Photos taken after the successful capture showed the tranquilized big cat lying motionless on a stretcher as gloved crews gathered around it to carry out a brief health assessment
Researchers with the Santa Cruz Puma Project fitted the big cat with a satellite GPS tracking collar at the scene, with Tira revealing that he will now become part of the department’s scientific study
The lion has since been released back into the wild in the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Tira told SFGate that male mountain lions can claim territories of roughly 50 square miles, with established males typically unwilling to tolerate another male encroaching on their territory.
‘It’s a real challenge for a young male mountain lion to find a place to live on its own where there’s not already a dominant male,’ he said.
Tira said young lions occasionally enter the city from the San Mateo Peninsula, where an established mountain lion population lives, wandering for a home of their own.
Researchers with the Santa Cruz Puma Project fitted the big cat with a satellite GPS tracking collar at the scene, with Tira revealing that he will now become part of the department’s scientific study, according to SFGate.
‘The plan, as what usually happens in these things, is to return that mountain lion to its wild habitat,’ he told the outlet. ‘It will become part of the Puma Project’s research efforts as they track its movements and behavior and patterns in the wild.’
The project, run in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz, studies mountain lion movements and behavior across the greater Santa Cruz Mountains region.
He has since been released back into the wild in the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
