For the past two year, Los Angeles natives have been following the story of a mountain lion, dubbed P-22 or Puma 22, who found its way into Griffith Park.
The journey required crossing over two freeways from the cat’s previously known location in the Santa Monica Mountains. Now that same big cat has been discovered in the crawl space of a home in Los Feliz in East Los Angeles.
The owner of the home that borders the park, Jason Archinaco, told the Los Angeles Times that a maintenance worker discovered the famed mountain lion when doing repairs.
“He looked white as a ghost,” he told the paper about the worker.
On Monday, city and animal control officers tried to coax the lion out of the crawl space but without any luck. Mountain lions, which are nocturnal, like to bed down during the day, which might be why he hasn’t been too eager to wander off.
Observing that the lion was in good health, officials decided against tranquilizing the animal to do a safety check as that might impose medical complications. When the lion does get lose, they predict he wanders back into the park.
Photo credit: National Park Service
