Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN/@yuleniisabel.romeromontelongo

This is the moment a young jaguar is taken away from a house after the fearsome creature was spotted chilling on a front patio as seen in these pictures and had to be tranquilised.

The startling scene was recorded by an onlooker in the city of Tijuana in the northern Mexican state of Baja California after the wild jaguar (Panthera onca) had been spotted rooting through bins in the residential area.

Local media report the jaguar had noticed local residents watching it and had sprinted away, eventually settling down on the patio of a home.

Pictures Credit: CEN/@Saidgol & CEN & CEN/@yuleniisabel.romeromontelongo & CEN/@said.rodriguez11 &

Residents then called the Municipal Police and the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) to warn them of the jaguar’s presence and officers went to the scene along with vets from the local Hippodrome zoo.

The one-year-old male jaguar was sedated and in the video several men can be seen carrying a metal cage with the sedated big cat inside.

The incident occurred on the crossing of Rio Nazas street with Agua Caliente Boulevard, one of the main arteries in the city.

The wild cat caused such a stir that a man was reportedly arrested for going into the patio to take a picture of it. 

The authorities are investigating where the animal came from and they suspect it is owned by a local resident who owns similar animals.

Local media report the jaguar was transferred to the Hippodrome zoo where it is being looked after. 

The jaguar is listed as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List and its numbers are declining.

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