Mountain Lion Captured in San Francisco Neighborhood

A two-year-old male mountain lion weighing 77 pounds wandered through San Francisco's upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood for nearly two days before authorities successfully tranquilized and captured it on Tuesday afternoon, drawing crowds of onlookers who watched from a safe distance.

The animal was first spotted early Monday morning near Lafayette Park, a green space featuring tennis courts, a playground and an off-leash dog area. Resident Roxanne Blank encountered the cougar around 3 a.m. outside her apartment building, about half a mile from the eventual capture site. She described watching it approach her stoop, initially mistaking it for a dog until its tail and face came into view. "We were just staring at each other, but I felt really calm, and I felt like maybe the mountain lion was calm," Blank said. The two locked eyes for more than five minutes before the animal descended the stairs and fled after her dog barked from inside. Blank recorded the encounter on her phone and called emergency services.

Later Monday morning, another resident, Madrey Hilton, captured video of the mountain lion scaling a wall and entering Lafayette Park. "It was so big, not just a regular...