Famous Mountain Lion Evicted From House
— -- A well-known neighborhood mountain lion named P-22 that appeared to have finally settled down in a crawl space under a home has decided to move on.
The mountain lion was found in a crawl space under the home of Paula and Jason Archinaco on Monday in Los Feliz, California. Wildlife officials said today that he'd finally left the house.
The cat had been photographed for years inside Griffith Park, which is located near the Archinacos' home in central Los Angeles and is also home to popular tourist sites like the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory.
Paula Archinaco told ABC News affiliate KABC-TV on Monday that crews were working in the space when they came across the feline.
"The one worker came sprinting through our house, white-faced, shouting, 'There's a mountain lion under your house,'" she said.
Jason Archinaco said he didn't take the news seriously. He and his wife already have several cats.
"I thought he [the worker] was punking me, frankly," Archinaco said. "He's [the cat] probably been living here for a while. ... He thinks this is his den."
A team consisting of Los Angeles firefighters and members of California Fish and Wildlife and Los Angeles Animal Service fired bean bags and tennis balls at the mountain lion in an effort to get him to leave, but to no avail.
"We're going to let him settle," said Janice Mackey of Fish and Wildlife. "We're going to let everything calm down. ... And give him time to get out of there."
A red tag on P-22's ear helped wildlife officials identify him. Scientists first started tracking him in 2012, after he was seen on a U.S. Geological Survey camera.
A year later, he was the subject of a photography feature in an issue of National Geographic. And in 2014, he reappeared when surveillance video captured him strolling down a Hollywood street lined with multilmillion-dollar homes.
The Associate Press contributed to this story.
