It Was a Wild Morning Yesterday in San Francisco

Police urged residents indoors before they nabbed mountain lion roaming Outer Sunset neighborhood
Posted Sep 19, 2026 8:50 AM CDT

San Francisco residents woke up to an uninvited visitor on Friday: a mountain lion weaving through the city's Outer Sunset neighborhood. The big cat was first spotted around 7:30am in an area not far from the ocean, prompting a rapid response from wildlife officers and animal control as neighbors were urged over bullhorns to get inside and stay there, reports KGO. Video from the scene shows the animal sprinting down residential streets and ducking into bushes as crews tried to corner it.

After an extended, stop-and-start standoff, San Francisco Animal Care and Control members finally tranquilized the cougar and safely captured it. No injuries were reported. NBC Bay Area reports that the creature was released back into the wild after its capture. Officials say this marks the second mountain lion sighting in the city in two weeks, following reports of one in a tree near the Panhandle on Sept. 5, per KGO. It's not yet clear if it's the same animal.

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