The area of the Panhandle where a cougar was spotted was peaceful at dawn Sunday, with all police tape removed and law enforcement vehicles gone. Kate Galbraith/SF Chronicle On Saturday night, a massive presence of police and park rangers swarmed the Panhandle of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park after a park ranger confirmed that a mountain lion was up a tree. Officials blocked off the area, illuminated the tree and flew a drone. By dawn on Sunday, all the officials were gone, and so, they said, was the puma. The lion was said to have departed safely to a more suitable area. On Sunday afternoon, another unconfirmed sighting of the lion was again reported near 44th and Fulton streets, according to city officials who have been following the incident. That’s on the edge of Golden Gate Park, which was busy Sunday with people enjoying the beautiful day. Article continues below this advertisement Here are key questions about the lion and answers to the best of our knowledge. What do we know about the lion in the tree on Saturday night? On Saturday morning, Animal Care and Control officers received an initial report of a person walking a dog, said Deb Campbell, a spokeswoman for the group. The person who filed the report described catching a glimpse of the lion climbing a tree with dense foliage. To confirm the initial report, rangers from the San Francisco Department of Parks and Recreation and Animal Care and Control monitored the tree the rest of the day Saturday, and around 8:30 p.m. they spotted the lion, according to Campbell. About half an hour later, San Francisco sent out an alert warning people to avoid the area and stay home if they lived nearby. In short, the park ranger considered it a confirmed sighting. But California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials, who arrived Saturday night, never saw the lion. Neither did the San Francisco Police Department, whose officers arrived around 10 p.m. Article continues below this ad. Did anyone see the lion leave the tree? And it was confirmed that he abandoned the tree? Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said they are not aware of anyone seeing the lion come down from the tree. However, Animal Care and Control says the lion was able to “safely exit the situation overnight.” The group said it was the “best case scenario” that the lion was “in a natural environment with a safe corridor back to the wild.” (The group did not specify what that corridor is, but Golden Gate Park is the direct route to the coast through a park.) The lion, ACC said, “was not cornered, as previous lion visitors have been, and was able to leave the scene peacefully.” It was also unclear when the lion left the tree. After initial confirmation of the sighting, law enforcement presence increased significantly on Saturday night, with police vehicles continuing to arrive around 11 p.m. and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which appears to have been prepared to take the lead on the matter, not arriving until then. CDFW officials said they never saw the lion. “There was no reason to launch it, and that would be unsafe in the area it was in,” ACC said via text message, citing the CDFW’s experience. “Compare a tree in a park to being trapped between buildings like the one in January. The best way was to allow it the space and quiet environment to move away naturally. They are elusive animals that are good at hiding.” Kellum said the cougar is expected to follow a wildlife corridor on its own to its natural habitat. I was still in San Francisco at 3 pm in the Golden Gate Park area on the western edge. That indicates that, hopefully, the lion is moving west and will then head south when it reaches the coast, a common corridor for lions when they wander around the city. Article continues below this advertisement. ACC requested that any additional sightings be reported to (415) 554-9400.
