Mountain lion spotted in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood captured by animal control

By Jose Fabian

A mountain lion recently spotted in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights has been captured Tuesday, after it was seen around the neighborhood and at a nearby park.

Officials with the city’s Animal Care and Control found the animal near California and Octavia streets Tuesday morning. The animal was contained and the agency was working with the San Francisco Zoo on next steps.

“I’m glad they’re they know where it is. I mean, mostly for ourselves, but also for the animal,” Abram Cortez, a neighborhood resident, told CBS News Bay Area.  

Around 11 a.m., crews were on scene as they were attempting to capture the mountain lion. 

The Santa Cruz Puma Project was also called to help. It was founded in 2008 in partnership with UC Santa Cruz to research how mountain lions and their habitats are impacted by people and housing construction.

One of the biologists who responded was Richie King, who had interacted with this lion before.

“On the way out, someone texted me and said, ‘Oh, he’s got an ear tag on.’ And I was like, ‘Is it orange? And is it in his left ear?’ And they were like, ‘Yep.’ And I was like, it’s that same guy,” King told CBS News Bay Area.

King was part of the team that originally tagged this mountain lion when he was 5 weeks old in the Rancho San Antonio area. Last September, the same mountain lion was spotted in a backyard in Saratoga.

He was tranquilized then and relocated to the area around the Lexington Reservoir. Then, within the last few months, King said he must have made his way north to get into the city.

“I don’t think he’s seeking out these areas. For the most part, he’s being pushed around by other males who have these home ranges that aren’t letting him go in there. Really, he doesn’t have much of a choice about where he’s going and he just happens to end up in these bad situations,” King said.

King said the lion is in good health and looks like he’s been eating well. 

Shortly after noon, the captured mountain lion, which was in an enclosure, had been loaded onto a pickup. They did put a GPS tracking collar on him this time, and he will be released back out into the wild in an open space far away from people.

Animal Care and Control San Francisco had warned residents on Monday about the mountain lion, which was spotted near Lafayette Park Sunday night. 

“It’s likely that the mountain lion got lost while dispersing, is confused, and will soon find its way south and out of San Francisco,” Animal Care and Control said at the time.

Madrey Hilton told CBS News Bay Area in an interview Monday that she saw the mountain lion between Sacramento and Gough streets as she was driving to work and recorded the encounter.

“It was super big too, so I knew it wasn’t like just a stray cat or anything, and it kind of walked up the road, like towards like where my car is,” Hilton said. “And so immediately I got out my phone to record because I wanted to send a video to my friends.”

When encountering a mountain lion, residents are advised not to go near the mountain lion, and if they see it, slowly back away — Do not run. And people with children should pick them up and keep their pets on leashes.

If a mountain lion approaches, people should make themselves “big” by waving their arms, yelling and throwing something, and again, do not run.