A rogue mountain lion was sighted and documented in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, blocks away from Billionaire’s Row — a first in San Francisco’s recorded history.
San Francisco is no stranger to wild things. The City’s official animal is an introduced species; sea lions draw hundreds of thousands of tourists each year to Pier 39; thousands just recently flooded Golden Gate Park to celebrate the iconic life of one albino alligator that called the seven-by-seven home for over 17 years before his untimely passing last month; the COVID-19 pandemic became synonymous with coyote sightings along empty streets.
A mountain lion has been spotted in SF, near Lafayette Park. If you see a mountain lion pick up children, keep dogs on leash and back away slowly – do not run. If it approaches – make yourself ‘big’, shout and throw something. Report sightings to SFACC: (415) 554-9400 pic.twitter.com/bkv08T829a
— SF Animal Care & Control (@SFACC) January 27, 2026
Big cats, however, remain somewhat elusive in San Francisco proper. Bobcats are seen every blue moon. Mountain lions? Historically, only a handful of times.
Well, consider history made this weekend when a mountain lion strolled into San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood.
The San Francisco Animal Care and Control (SFACC) confirmed Monday evening that a mountain lion was, indeed, sighted over the weekend in the Pacific Heights and Cow Hollow neighborhoods, its last location reported near Lafayette Park. As one would expect, social media, especially the San Francisco Reddit sub threads, were in a tizzy over the news, sharing the grainy night videos of the big cat slinking across San Francisco streets tens of thousands of times; some have decided to collectively call him/her/they “Jumanji” — a perfect name, to be honest.
MOUNTAIN LION IN SF! Sharing from a friend. Poor thing is roaming around Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights tonight. Authorities have been notified and hopefully she’ll be helped off the streets soon. Wild. Literally. pic.twitter.com/7jfGICFPV8
— Erica Sandberg 舊金山的神奇女俠 (@EricaJSandberg) January 27, 2026
The cat’s whereabouts was suspected to still be near the aforementioned park, and SFACC confirmed earlier this morning that the cat, a juvenile male, was found in the area and that California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) was en route to tranquil and reallocate the animal; biologists and wildlife experts with SFACC believe the wayward young male mountain lion was truly and utterly lost, likely taking a few wrong turns traveling to more forested territories.
Neither SFACC nor CDFW has released statements yet regarding the animal’s capture and relocation, but X and Reddit have been quiet since the last sighting of the animal shared late Monday evening. As of publishing, the San Francisco Fire Department has confirmed the animal is contained inside Lafayette Park.
Mountain Lion contained to Lafayette Park area near California St. SFPD, SFFD, Fish & Wildlife, SF Animal Care & Control, SF Zoo on scene. pic.twitter.com/aUcKR81Q9v
— SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MEDIA (@SFFDPIO) January 27, 2026
This young mountain lion has been the first confirmed big cat in San Francisco since June of 2020, when another young mountain lion was filmed roaming the cobblestone pathways in Russian Hill and the Embarcadero neighborhoods.
Mountain lion sightings are common further down the peninsula, especially in less populated areas in and around Half Moon Bay; a 2023 mountain lion attack on a five-year-old boy made national news for its rarity, becoming one of just fifty documented attacks in California since 1890.
Here’s hoping this lil’ cougar didn’t lose any of its nine lives… and that if a wildlife biologist tagged and cataloged the big cat, may his internet-deemed name, Jumanji, carry on over.
Feature image: Courtesy of SFACC
