Residents of San Francisco's Pacific Heights were shocked to see a mountain lion in January.
In a video shared on Fox KTVU 2's TikTok page, the big cat is seen running across a road near Lafayette Park.
@ktvu2 A one-year-old male mountain lion was spotted in San Francisco and eluded animal control officers for hours, captivating a human audience, watching online and in person, for more than a day. Madley Hilton captured video of the big cat on Monday near Lafayette Park.
♬ original sound - KTVU 2
"I swear to God, am I tripping?" asks the camerawoman, Madley Hilton.
She identified the creature as a mountain lion, but she still could not believe her own eyes, asking, "What is that?" a moment later.
According to Fox KTVU 2, this was a one-year-old male mountain lion. For more than a day, viewers in person and online watched as the large predator stayed a step ahead of animal control officers.
Although the big cat encounter provided entertainment for many, there is a grim side to this story. This was a dangerous situation for both the mountain lion and the people around it, as it is easy for an animal in human spaces to become stressed and disoriented and to harm people or itself. This can even lead to an animal being put down.
Unfortunately, situations in which humans come face-to-face with wildlife are more common as human development expands and wild spaces shrink.
Healthy habitats for mountain lions and many other species are becoming harder and harder to find, and these animals often wander into urban and suburban areas in search of food, shelter, and others of their own kind.
When a large animal like a mountain lion is around, the best thing you can do is give it space. Keep your distance and, ideally, stay indoors.
In the long term, however, conservation efforts are needed to keep wild spaces available and healthy for these animals so they will have less reason to wander into human cities.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 The good news is that some conservation efforts are already bearing fruit, as one commenter pointed out.
"Anyone remember when they told you while hiking in the back country you would never see a mountain lion.... Maybe 30 years ago," said one user.
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