A mountain lion was spotted in California wine country Sunday, just days after another puma had been captured in San Francisco.
A video shared by North Bay Animal Services showed the lion walking through a backyard in Sebastopol, a small city in Sonoma County about 50 miles north of San Francisco, just feet from a frightened resident who filmed the encounter.
Multiple residents reported seeing the mountain lion Sunday morning, the Sebastopol Police Department said in a statement.
“If you live in that vicinity it would be wise to bring any pets inside,” the police department wrote.
The animal had not been captured by Monday, according to police.
Five days earlier, animal control officers in San Francisco captured a mountain lion within the city after an hours-long standoff.
The lion had been seen traversing the city and probably got lost, San Francisco Animal Care and Control said in a Facebook post.
California once had specialists dedicated to resolving conflict between people and wolves, mountain lions and coyotes. But after funding ran dry in 2024, the state let all but one of them go.
Now, a coalition of wildlife advocates is calling for the state to bring back, expand and fund the coexistence program, at roughly $15 million annually.
Times staff writer Lila Seidman contributed to this report.
