A mountain lion spotted in Lafayette Park on Monday was captured in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood on Tuesday morning after being surrounded by personnel from the San Francisco Zoo and San Francisco Animal Care and Control. The young adult lion was first caught on video Monday near the park.
At 6:21 a.m. on Tuesday, an alert was sent to San Francisco residents reporting the animal had been located and that animal control employees were on the scene. The animal was located at Octavia and California streets, near the landmark Atherton House, in the wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood, where the animal was cornered by officials.
After being cornered for hours, the lion was captured at approximately 10:45 a.m. Officials used a dart tranquilizer, and the lion was put into a cage, but it will take about 15 minutes for the tranquilizer to kick in, San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano ElÃas told reporters.
SFGATE saw several crews on the scene in the hourslong standoff, including officials from San Francisco Animal Care and Control, the San Francisco Zoo, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco Fire Department.
Crowds of community members had gathered nearby, waiting for the lion to be captured. Meanwhile, Nathan Sherk, an officer with SFPD, told reporters that the mountain lion had jumped over a fence and had been stuck in an area beyond the fence at one point.
SFPD officers were seen firing tranquilizers from a fire escape of a nearby building. Officials also had a rifle for the capture as drones circulated the area.
Stephen Sherrill, a San Francisco supervisor whose district includes Pacific Heights, called the mountain lion sighting a “true San Francisco moment.”
“I think the critical thing is to protect the safety of everybody in the most humane way possible,” Sherrill said.
Before the mountain lion was located, social media users reported the animal was seen wandering the streets near Lafayette Park.
On Monday, a young mountain lion was spotted in an alleyway near Pacific Heights in San Francisco. (Image via Lady Trady/Redditt w/permission)
“Early this morning while getting dropped off by a friend I witnessed a majestic mountain lion trotting down my block and up the steps to a corridor next to my apartment,” one resident wrote in a Reddit post. “It was HUGE! Must have weighed 100+ pounds, and when on all fours, it was about 2/3 the height of the compost bin.”
Don Berger, a decades-long San Francisco resident, told SFGATE that he’s never heard of anything like the mountain lion’s recent appearance in the city.
“They had sightings of coyotes down in San Mateo and Marin County but never here in the city. This is very strange, and I don’t know what brought it here,” Berger said.
A young mountain lion is seen through the window of a Pacific Height residence in San Francisco around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (Image via Lady Trady/Redditt w/permission)
Max Tesseron, who lives in Pacific Heights, also told SFGATE that he was shocked when he heard the news from his neighbor.
“It’s quite scary to be honest because I have a dog and a young daughter. I walk around this park a lot,” he said.
This breaking news story has been updated.
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This article originally published at ‘Majestic’ mountain lion captured after hourslong SF standoff.