SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, June 18, authorities captured a male mountain lion on 4th & Chanel Street in the Mission Bay region.
San Francisco Animal Control & Care, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the San Francisco Police Department captured the 15-month-old, 68-pound male mountain lion after cornering him using nets to tame the animal.
In a phone interview with Department of Fish and Wildlife, Ken Paglia told the San Francisco News:
“Earlier this week, there was video of the lion walking through downtown San Francisco, so that was the first part of the news. Then it was spotted once or twice more, so that’s why we and animal control decided to pick it up, so it won’t be nuisance to our home life.”
While the mountain lion was roaming around the past few days, there have been three deaths at the San Francisco Zoo.
An email sent on June 19 to the San Francisco News stated:
“SF Zoo officials confirm that earlier this week, three marsupials — two wallaroos and a red kangaroo — were found dead in their outdoor exhibit. Findings suggest that a local wild carnivore is responsible. Following the incident, the Zoo immediately took steps to prevent any further loss. With the unusual siting and capture of a young mountain lion in San Francisco this week, the Zoo is investigating whether this could be the perpetrator.”
The mountain lion was taken to the Oakland Zoo and was examined for two to three hours. After the examination, veterinarians decided the mountain lion is able to survive on its own.
In a phone interview with Vice President, Marketing & Communications of the Oakland Zoo, Erin Harrison told the San Francisco News the mountain lion “was banging around his crate wanting to get out. So we saw that he was completely fine and that’s a good sign that he’s healthy and he’s hasn’t had any bad reactions to the anesthesia because he was super alert and the Department of Fish and Wildlife put him in their vehicle and took him to an open preserve and let him go.”
The mountain lion was released into the Peninsula. He has a GPS collar so he can be tracked, and people will know if he tries to venture into another populated area.
Out of 12 mountain lion captured, this was the first mountain lion old enough to be rereleased into the wild.
“The other 11 we had were too young and really sick when they were brought to us,” said Harrison. “They’ve been on their own for days, totally starving, dehydrated, and covered in tics.”
“I was told that a few days ago a female adult mountain lion was hit by a car on the 101 in South San Francisco, so there’s a chance that was his mother, she was in the area and it kind of makes sense how he was in the city and lost without his mom,” Harrison told the San Francisco News.
