AZUSA CA (KCAL/KCBS/CNN) - A large female mountain lion that was spotted roaming around the backyards of homes on Monday has been captured.
Officials said the mountain lion is blind in one eye and may have been stuck in the neighborhood.
Police used a drone to track the animal and used a loudspeaker to warn residents to stay inside.
“It just stopped and stared, we kind of did a staring contest,” said, resident Deborah Moore “It’s really a beautiful animal, I wasn’t afraid of it.”
Police said, the mountain lion was contained to the backyard of one home after jumping several fences.
The animal was safely captured and tranquilized around 9:30 a.m. by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife staff.
“It’s blind in one eye, one eye is totally white,” said Adam Smith, spokesperson for CDFW. “So, we’re not really sure how healthy it is, it hasn’t been able to get out of here. So, because of that, we went ahead and tranquilized it.”
Officials said they will assess the animal’s health before releasing it back into the wild.
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