Videos Show Capture of Mountain Lion Who Went Wandering Around Pacific Heights, and His Release to the Wild

"It was major news Tuesday morning that a mountain lion had been spotted all over Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow, in a rarity for San Francisco. We may be plenty used to coyotes at this point, and the city is full of raccoons, but apex predator cougars are typically too skittish to wander into the busy city the last known sighting of one was five years ago, in Bernal Heights."

"Animal Care & Control has now posted a brief video showing its officers as they located and kept tabs on the mountain lion, after it had taken refuge in the gap between two buildings on California Street between Laguna and Octavia. They then waited for a California Department of Fish & Wildlife agent to arrive who could tranquilize and transport the big cat out of town and that whole process unfolded Tuesday morning. The Chronicle obtained footage from Fish & Wildlife of the mountain lion's release, which occurred early Wednesday morning in the Santa Cruz Mountains."

"Krysten Kellum, a public information officer with the state agency, tells the Chronicle that the handlers waited until the mountain lion had fully woken up from his tranquilized slumber, which didn't occur until around 2 or 3 am today. At that point, they opened the gate of his cage, and video shows him quickly bounding off into the woods amid a light rain. Still from video of the animal's release, via CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife"

A two-year-old male mountain lion wandered from the Peninsula into San Francisco neighborhoods, including Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow. Animal Care & Control located the cat sheltering in a gap between two buildings and monitored it until a California Department of Fish & Wildlife agent could tranquilize and transport it. The animal had previously been tagged in Santa Clara County as 157M and fitted with a tracking collar that later came off. Handlers waited until the cougar fully regained consciousness before opening the cage, at which point it bounded into the Santa Cruz Mountains amid light rain after being fitted with a new collar.

Read at sfist.com