Officials tranquilized a 100-pound, 7 foot long mountain line that had been stuck in a fenced-off culvert from Branciforte Creek in Santa Cruz Thursday.
It was later released into the wild in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Police were called to the Ramada Inn at 516 Water St. after a sighting of the animal in the parking lot after 7 a.m. Witnesses said it appeared to have jumped a fence behind the medical complex off Water Street and down a 20-foot embankment into the thin riverbed.
Santa Cruz Police officer Carly Cross was one of the first on the scene and she saw the cat jumping up the wall trying to get out.
The cat paced around and then laid down in the bushes.
State Fish and Game agents were on a retreat out of town, police said at first. After noon a pair of game officials arrived, tranquilized the animal and with help of other officers, loaded into a dog crate, put it on a quad and drove it off.
Hundreds of specators lined the aqueduct trying to get a view of the big cat.
Wildlife rescue crews from the University of California at Santa Cruz Puma Project were able to tranquilize the animal and it was transported to the Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz,
department spokeswoman Janice Mackey said.
Staff from Moss Landing-based WildLife Emergency Services provided equipment for the rescue, including netting to block escape routes at the creek group president Rebecca Dmytryk said.
A veterinarian from the Department of Fish and Wildlife was also at the scene, Mackey said.
A staff member from WildLife Emergency Services helped the veterinarian and police personnel move the tranquilized animal into a crate, Dmytryk said.
"We were all working for the good of the animal as well as the safety of the people," Dmytryk said.
The mountain lion weighs about 100 pounds and is healthy and in "very good condition," Mackey said.
Dmytryk said the young mountain lion is likely a few years old.
The mountain lion was taken to the center around 1 p.m. and was expected to be released later today -- after the effects of the tranquilizer wore off -- into an undisclosed area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Mackey
said.
No one was injured during the hours-long rescue effort, police said.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
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