A mountain lion sighting prompted a frenetic search Saturday night in San Francisco’s Panhandle near Golden Gate Park.

The animal was seen near Fell and Baker streets, intriguing residents who quickly flocked to the site across from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Authorities asked a crowd of about 20 onlookers who packed the intersection to remain quiet should the animal come down from a nearby tree that police had taped off.

Multiple park ranger and police vehicles were parked at the scene, along with an Animal Care and Control van, blocking a southbound lane on Baker Street.

Officials had advised picking up small children and keeping dogs on leashes in a Nixle alert issued at 9:10 p.m. After the animal failed to resurface roughly an hour later, enforcement crews launched a drone from the Panhandle to search the tree canopy. By that point, bystanders had set in for what could be a long vigil.

Animal Care and Control officers had received a report of the mountain lion Saturday morning from a person walking their dog, said agency spokesperson Deb Campbell. The person who submitted the report had glimpsed the lion climbing into a tree with dense foliage, “but that was not confirmed,” Campbell said.

Rangers from Recreation and Parks monitored the tree all day and spied the lion in early evening. Multiple departments swooped in to help, including City Hall, the San Francisco police, and the Department of Emergency Management. Animal Care and Control executive director Amy Corso was helping management the incident, and as of 10:30 p.m., staff at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife were “on their way,” Campbell said. 

By 10:42 p.m. a dozen authorities stood at the base of a large conifer surrounded by caution tape and beamed flashlights upward

Saturday’s dramatic search effort marked the second mountain lion sighting San Francisco has had this year.

In January, a lion was captured after about 30 hours in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. The process took longer than expected because responders said the 2-year-old lion was nestled in a small spot between two buildings and had to be tranquilized several times. 

That mountain lion, named 157M, was eventually sedated and released into the wild on the Peninsula. 

“If the mountain lion approaches — make yourself ‘big’ wave your arms, shout, throw something, and again, do not run,” officials at Animal Care and Control instructed.