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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado Division of Wildlife officials were forced to tranquilize a mountain lion after it was seen roaming around southwest Colorado Springs Tuesday morning.

Officials said the 90 pound female lion was in a tree south of the Cimarron Street and 21st Street intersection around 11:20 a.m. They think the lion was stalking a deer in the area.

"They tend to look at smaller prey, rather than larger prey," Michael Serpaphin from the Division of Parks and Wildlife said.  "There's a theory mountain lions associate 4-legged animals as food sources, but not 2-legged animals."

Officials said it is uncommon to see mountain lions enter city limits, but it is possible in that area because it is so close to the mountains.

"We have mountain lions that move in and out of community, in and out of Colorado, here and in the Pikes Peak region," Seraphin said. "The number of mountain lions, if you contrast that to the proximity of where they live among people, it's surprising there's very few contact or direct encounter with lions."

Mountain lions are normally not a threat to humans; they more often go after four-legged animals such as deer or dogs.

"Not with this particular animal, but generally, the biggest threat are to pets: small dogs and cats, even medium dogs and cats, are considerable prey to the mountain lion," Seraphin said.

Crews tranquilized the lion, but she ran off before crews could control it. She was found about two blocks later in resident John Daily's front yard, beneath a truck in the driveway.

"I moved here in '71, and seen bear, and a bobcat and lots of deer, but no mountain lions. [This is] the first one," Daily said.

It took about a half hour to find the lion, which was then knocked out. She will be tagged and re-released into the wild.

Officials said if she returns, they will know who she is based on the tag. Unlike bears, who are automatically put down when they are seen in areas where humans live for a second time, officials said lions are treated on a case by case basis.