Surprised residents of the Glendale section of Los Angeles saw not a tiger, nor a bear, but a lion, oh my, roaming their neighborhood yesterday afternoon.

The lion, what officials believe was a full-grown male weighing at least 120 pounds, was first spotted after 12 p.m. in a neighborhood park not far from a local high school, according to local ABC affiliate KABC.

He then moved on to a neighborhood where residents spotted him jumping across their yards.

"I have a sliding glass door in our patio, and there he is, looking in on me, and my dog Max, he goes crazy," resident John Yankosky told KABC. "He's hitting the sliding glass door, and the cat isn't moving. They're face to face."

Officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife soon arrived on the scene but even they were unable, at first, to stop the cat.

It took three tranquilizers to subdue the lion to the point where wardens could move him into a pickup truck, where he was surrounded by the flashes of cameras of curious neighbors.

After an assessment, the lion was released back into the wilds of the Angeles National Forest, from which officials believe he came. Authorities told KABC they believe the lion ended up in the neighborhood through a wash that passes from the mountains through Glendale.