MEXICO CITY (AP) — Residents and schoolkids in Mexico City helped squads of police in a long-winded pursuit of a wolf loose in one of the city's neighborhoods, authorities said.

Citizens and police officers chased the animal on foot and on motorbikes in the north-side neighborhood, before the medium-sized wolf finally was cornered “with the help of neighbors,” the city police department said late Monday.

The Milenio television station interviewed a 15-year-old boy who headed off the wolf with his motorbike. “We came to catch the wolf,” the boy said.

Once corned, police animal-control officers snared the wolf with a rope and forced the German-shepherd-sized animal into a cage for transport.

It was unclear where the wolf came from. It appeared trotting down sidewalks in a densely built-up neighborhood near a city zoo. But the city’s Environment Department said all of the zoo's wolves were accounted for.

Wolves are native to central Mexico, but are rarely if ever seen in the metropolis of 20 million.