Agents of the California Department of Fauna reported this Thursday that they captured the cougar that during the last days was walking freely through the streets of San Francisco and they plan to return it to the mountain today .
Residents of the residential neighborhood of Bernal Heights remained on alert after several sightings in the past hours of this great feline , which the home security cameras had captured prowling around gardens and alleys, especially at night.
I just talked with the homeowner in the Portola District that captured the footage of the mountain lion. She gave me the original video which is a bit clearer than the one I posted earlier. pic.twitter.com/HBEZnwyI9A
– Andrea Nakano (@AndreaKPIX) May 19, 2021
Those responsible for fauna of the Californian Government received a notice On the Wednesday night that the cougar was perched on a tree in front of a house , where they moved and shot him a tranquilizer dart.
After being captured, the animal was transferred to the zoo in neighboring Oakland and this Thursday it will be released in a mountainous area near San Francisco. A video and several photographs show the feline in this place.
More pictures of the mountain lion from @ oakzoo . This is the Zoo’s 15 th mountain Lion rescue in less than 3 years. 3 of them still live at the zoo. Animal will be examined. If healthy, a wildlife biologist will transport him to new location. pic.twitter.com/PsbkTuCWmW
– Elissa Harrington (@EHarringtonTV) May 20, 2021
The cougars, that normally avoid contact with humans as much as possible , live in the vicinity of San Francisco, although historically it had been very rare for them to enter the city.
However, in recent times the sightings of these big cats in the city have stopped being so rare , since that the chronic drought in California leads them to go to residential areas in search of water and food.
According to the United States National Park Service, if there is an encounter with a cougar, you should stay calm and try to intimidate it by pretending to be as big as possible (wearing jackets and other clothing, for example) and raising your voice.
In no case should you turn your back to the feline, crouch or run, since then the puma would identify the human as a prey and could attack it.