In the wilds of San Francisco’s Mission district, a piglet running through traffic Tuesday prompted a chase by a posse of Good Samaritans that was led by a Franciscan friar.

The piglet, weighing no more than 10 pounds, was spotted on the loose at the bustling intersection of 19th and Dolores streets at about 8:30 a.m.

“We had a three-block up-and-down and up-and-down chase,” Brother Damian of the Society of St. Francis on Dolores Street said of the bizarre roundup.

The 46-year-old Franciscan friar said he was conducting a morning prayer service when a St. Francis deacon ran in and alerted him of the little porker in the street.

He said when he got outside, several people were already running around trying to catch the scampering animal.

“It was a quick little piglet,” said the friar.

Among those trying to catch the piglet was a man in a business suit, who briefly had the animal cornered under a car before it squirmed away.

“The guy was actually on his cell phone saying, ‘I’m going to be a little late. I’m chasing a pig,’” Brother Damian said.

A police officer blocked off traffic in the area, and eventually the wayward piglet was captured by a construction worker, the friar said.

The piglet was turned over to city Animal Care and Control, where officers nicknamed it Janice.

“It’s just another day at the office for us,” said Animal Care and Control’s executive director, Virginia Donohue. “We’re here to shelter all types of animals — piglets included.”

Donohue said the search was on for Janice’s owner. If the owner can’t be found in five days, the piglet will be offered to a rescue group.

Bill Hutchinson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bhutchinson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @bill_hutchinson