LOS ANGELES — A celebrity mountain lion transformed a wealthy hillside neighborhood into a paparazzi-like scene of scrambling photographers before eluding everyone Tuesday and quietly slipping away.
The 125-pound beast, easily recognizable by the collar and ear tag wildlife officials placed on him a few years ago, has been seen from time to time roaming the hillsides overlooking downtown Los Angeles. In 2013, National Geographic published a glamorous action shot of the mountain lion on the prowl near the Hollywood sign.
On Monday, a worker installing a home security system at James Archinaco’s house found the animal lounging in a crawl space.
“He came up, and he was like, ‘Mr. Jason, you have a mountain lion in your house!’ And that’s where it all started,” Archinaco said Tuesday.
Soon, wildlife officials were throwing beanbags and tennis balls at the lion known as P-22, trying to flush him out as TV news photographers jockeyed for position. Within hours, the event was being broadcast live.