Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have announced that the agency successfully relocated a mountain lion that was spotted near a mountain town elementary school in recent days – but don’t get this confused with the mountain lion that was reportedly spotted in the Old Colorado City area of Colorado Springs.

According to the agency’s Southeast Region division, the mountain lion entered the Chaffee County town of Salida by crossing Highway 50 on Sunday. It was soon spotted near the local elementary school, which is located less than half a mile from popular downtown restaurants and bars.

Locals started watching the movement of the mountain lion, spotting it under a trailer across the street from the school next. It then ended up jumping a fence and landing in the yard of Jim Aragon, who happens to be a retired Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers Shepherd, Baker, and Reimer responded to the scene, where the mountain lion was successfully sedated and put into a wildlife trailer.

After the mountain lion was captured, it was relocated and once the sedative was reversed, it was released back into the wild in more ideal habitat in the same general region.

Officials estimated that the male mountain lion was about two to three years old.

This case goes to show how local reporting can be important when it comes to preventing human-wildlife encounters. While this scenario could have ended badly with the loss of pets or a potential attack, it sounds like it went as well as it could have and the mountain lion is back to living a normal life in the wild.

Anyone who spots a mountain lion in a civilized area should contact their local Colorado Parks and Wildlife Office to give them a heads up. If any sort of conflict occurs, information about how to contact the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Headquarters can be found here.

If you spot a mountain lion, keep your distance. Attacks on humans are extremely rare. Never run from a big cat, as this can prompt a chase response. Instead, make yourself look big if the mountain lion seems aggressive and talk firmly to the cat. Throw objects in its direction if you need to scare it off, but don’t crouch down to pick those objects up.

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