A 77-pound mountain lion that wandered into San Francisco’s affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood was captured Tuesday, ending a daylong search that began when the animal was first spotted Monday morning. Officials tranquilized the male cougar in a garden between two apartment buildings and safely transported it for examination and testing before eventual release to the wild.
Mountain lion sightings are rare in San Francisco, where coyotes are the more common large predator roaming the urban landscape. The capture highlights the occasional encounters between wildlife and residents of the densely populated city, which sits adjacent to wilderness areas south of the metro area where the animals naturally live.
Encounter Captured on Video
Roxanne Blank was being dropped off at her apartment around 3 a.m. Monday when she noticed the mountain lion casually walking down her street and up her apartment steps. “I thought it was a dog at first, but then I saw the tail and realized that it’s not a dog,” she said. “Then it tripped the light sensor, and that’s when I saw its face and was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s a mountain lion!’”
Blank remained calm as the animal approached. “We were just staring at each other, but I felt really calm, and I felt like maybe the mountain lion was calm,” she said. “I just stood there in awe of like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe this is happening to me.’” She pulled out her phone and began recording as the mountain lion “locked eyes” with her for more than five minutes. The animal eventually walked down her apartment stairs and began running when her dog started barking from inside. She then called 911 to report the sighting.
Capture and Safe Handling
Authorities located the mountain lion Tuesday hiding in a garden between two apartment buildings in the same neighborhood. San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano Elias said officials shot the animal with tranquilizers three times “to make sure it was completely unconscious.” Once sedated, authorities “covered his eyes and bound its paws, just to make sure it wasn’t going to run anywhere.”
Veterinarians from the San Francisco Zoo examined the animal, which was identified as a 2-year-old male cougar. The animal had been previously tagged and was last spotted in Saratoga, approximately 50 miles south of San Francisco. After undergoing further health testing, the mountain lion will be released back into the wild. Angela Yip, a spokesperson for the city’s Animal Care and Control, said there was no threat to the public during the capture operation.
Rare Sightings in the City
Mountain lion sightings are uncommon in San Francisco, where coyotes are the more frequently encountered large predators roaming the urban landscape. The animals naturally inhabit the hills and wilderness areas south of the city and occasionally wander into populated areas before returning to their habitat.
A similar incident occurred in 2020 when a young mountain lion was spotted sleeping in a planter box along a busy downtown street, looking at its reflection in an office tower’s glass. That animal was also safely captured and released into the wild.
Large cities occasionally support mountain lion populations. Los Angeles, one of the world’s few megacities with over 10 million residents, hosts a thriving population of mountain lions that breed, hunt, and maintain territory within its urban boundaries, according to wildlife experts. Residents and wildlife experts say the animals have adapted to city living while maintaining their natural behaviors and territorial ranges.