Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
The Malibu area mountain lion who somehow made his way into Griffith Park a few years ago was discovered today in the crawl space under a home on Glendower Avenue. A home security technician was installing a system under the house and encountered the lion. For now, wildlife officials will try to lure P-22 out. They don't have many other choices. What happens then is kind of unclear. Best case is that P-22 scampers back toward the chaparral of Griffith Park, but that's all relative. There is no female there for him to mate with, and his former range far to the west in the Santa Monica Mountains is already claimed by other adult cougar. P-22 is remarkable for having traversed the 405 and 101 freeways and many miles of inhabited terrain before reaching Griffith Park and being confirmed by trail cameras.
And the tweet of the night:
In the crawl space the mighty crawl space the lion sleeps tonight...🎵
— Pamela Chelin (@PamelaChelin) April 14, 2015
8:20 a.m. update: After trying last night to prod P-22 to leave the crawl space by poking him with a stick, shooting tennis balls his direction and hitting him with fired bean bags, stye Fish and Wildlife officials backed off and said he could leave on his own. By the way, despite the headlines you see everywhere, there's no indication the lion was trapped or stuck under the house. He could have just been exhibiting normal cat behavior: he picked a spot to hide, and wasn't going to come out when there were people and helicopters outside.
He was still there at 1 a.m., NBC 4 photographer Sean Browning posted.
One last shot of the famous P-22 mountain lion hiding under a Los Feliz house tonight. Beautiful beast! @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/miYB87YnQH
— Sean Browning (@ShootSeanNBCLA) April 14, 2015Fish and Wildllife officials who took a "quick peeK' in the space this morning did not see P-22. They are awaiting telemetry information from his collar to confirm his location, per Fox 11's Gigi Graciette.
No sign of P22 during quick peek into crawl space by CA Fish + Wildlife. Waiting for more officers + telemetry equipment to "ping" him.
— Gigi Graciette (@GigiGraciette) April 14, 2015Previously on LA Observed:
Mountain lion P-22 looking healthy again
Griffith Park mountain lion found sick, possibly poisoned
National Geographic story picks up more than mountain lions
Two wary cougars slowly eat a deer in the San Gabriels (video)
