Mountain lion in Selma neighborhood. ‘It was taking a nap in someone’s front yard.’

A 130-pound mountain lion was tranquilized outside a home in Selma on Monday morning after it was spotted wandering through a neighborhood in the southeast part of town near the hospital.

Officers were dispatched after a resident first spotted the cat around 7 a.m.

A second call came in around 9:15 a.m.

That’s when police found the mountain lion on Evergreen Avenue.

“It was taking a nap in someone’s front yard,” said Sgt. Cassy Fain.

“He was a big guy” with an extremely long tail.

The animal hopped a security gate into a resident’s side yard, where officers kept an eye on it until California Fish and Wildlife arrived. The cat was tranquilized and taken for a health evaluation, before being relocated back into a suitable habitat nearby.

“He’s alive and he’s fine,” Fain said.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife believe the animal may have followed the Kings River conduit into town. There area is still partly rural and surrounded by vineyards and other farm land.

A sighting like this is relatively rare but it’s not unheard of, especially as the animals travel close to urban areas, said Ken Paglia with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We occasionally catch glimpses of mountain lions,” Paglia said.

“They are very elusive animals.”

Last year, a mountain lion attacked a dog in Woodside, a city between San Francisco and San Jose, near a state park and several nature preserves. The dog recovered and the mountain lion was never captured. At the time the Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated between 4,000 and 6,000 mountain lions live in California.

Ayub Salama was on a jog around his neighborhood Monday morning when he got a text that someone had seen a mountain lion in the area. He quickly called his wife to pick him up and was returning home when his 10-year-old daughter, Zakeeyah, spotted the cat out of the car window.

“She was the one who saw the animal,” Salama said.

“It made her day.”

Salama captured cell phone video of the cat from inside his vehicle, which he later posted on Facebook.

This was the second time Salama and has family have seen wildlife running around Selma.

Last summer they spotted a wild fox near Selma High School.

“It’s super cool to be able to see them,” Salama said, even though he knows it’s because the animals are losing their natural habitat. It was a “breathtaking experience” for Salama and his family, but the mountain lion seemed out of his element and “petrified,” he said.

It’s something he hopes will people keep in mind if they ever experience a similar situation.

“Give the animal the respect and the space it needs.”

The Department and Fish and Wildlife urges anyone who sees a wild animal to contact local law enforcement.

This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 2:25 PM.