Here kitty, kitty. "Mountain Lion P-22 Hunkers Down Overnight in Los Feliz Home's Crawl Space"

[Cleita]

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Mountain-Lion-Los-Feliz-Home-Crawl-Space-299608641.html

Home security technicians encountered a whiskered intruder while installing equipment at a home in Los Angeles on Monday, the home's owner said.

They found famous mountain lion P-22 stuck in the home's crawl space, said Jason Archinaco, the owner of the home in the Los Feliz hills.

"It's got to be at least 150 pounds!" Archinaco said, looking at the giant cat lodged in the small space of his home.

&quot The technician) came face-to-face with it, and he was horrified, and who can blame him? My husband said he came running through the house white-faced," Archinaco's wife Paula said.

He said the city's animal control officers couldn't remove the wildcat because it's too large. California Fish and Wildlife had attempted to coax him out with a tennis ball launcher in the hope he would run back to the mountains, however it failed to work. They even tried shooting a few beanbag rounds into the area in an attempt to get him out.

As of 7 a.m. Tuesday the animal remained under the house, despite the area being cleared overnight in an attempt to let him come out on his own free from distractions.

More and a video at link.

Why would he want to run back into the mountains with all those rattle snakes and coyotes, when he found a nice home? It seems our human need for real estate development with little regard for the needs of wildlife that are evolving to co-exist in our spaces, hence hot tub bears and now house kitty cougars.

[jberryhill]

1. "Home security technicians... while installing equipment"

It seems as if the home is not in need of an electronic security system, as it came with its own.

[Cleita]

2. A "watch cougar"? Better than a pit bull any time.

[longship]

5. That's why I protect my car with a trunk monkey.

Never let's me down.

[hifiguy]

40. Ooh, I like the idea of the Trunk Monkey.

An angry chimp will take down even the biggest, loudest asshole in a hurry.

[Yo_Mama]

3. It's a funny and unique problem to have, but that cat is gonna get HUNGRY.

They have to get him out of there.

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. That man was lucky.

I would not want to be near a trapped cougar in a closed space. That cat must be mellow. If he was really scared, I think he would have hurt that man. I'm glad the wildlife people are there because you know some yahoo would hurt him.
I wonder if he has been staying there all along?

[Cleita]

7. Unfortunately, you can't trust Wildlife not to hurt them.

They killed one in my area a few years back because it was hunting ducks at a wetland near the beach and the PTB decided he was too close to the beach where there are vacationers.

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. Sigh....

I know, but the world is watching. They better think long and hard about what to to.

[DirkGently]

6. Yikes. n/t

[Action_Patrol]

8. Well it is Tax Season

Maybe he's a Financial Panther looking for clients.

[BlueCaliDem]

9. Wow. Beautiful cat! I hope they can lure him out and have him return to the mountains where he

belongs as one of two regional apex predators (only second to bears).

Coyotes are routinely attacked and killed by mountain lions, and these big cats are incredibly smart and clever and know better than to mess with rattlesnakes. After all, unlike the saber-tooth cat (went extinct 10,000 years ago), the Puma, that lived alongside Smilodon, survived extinction. That takes smarts.

[Cleita]

13. He's already in the mountains. The home owners have moved into his territory.

Also, the various freeways built have limited their range. It's too bad we don't take habitat into consideration in our termite like frenzy to destroy habitat and build our homes and highways.

[BlueCaliDem]

15. Cougars are survivors. They'll adapt to whatever situation they encounter.

They were here 40,000 years ago during the reign of Smilodon, and unlike their larger cousins, they survived.

There's nothing we can do to stop the expansion of "civilization" into wildlife territory, and it's just wishful thinking to believe we can.

If we want to be honest and fair about it, we should just tear down all neighborhoods in Southern California in order to preserve all wildlife and both you and I know that's just not doable. It's a good thing, though, that cougars are clever and smart. They will adapt and they will survive. My only hope is, that no idiot decides to shoot and kill him.

[dolphinsandtuna]

16. population control for humans

anything else and the planet is doomed.

[BlueCaliDem]

17. What do you suggest? China-style rationing?

I'm sorry, but that didn't work for them and it's not going to work for us and I'd rather not have something like that in our society.

[hunter]

32. It's not impossible...

...good food, comfortable shelter, appropriate medicine, universal literacy, and birth control.

Ever notice how the most regressive societies reject all those, even here in the U.S.A.?

The leaders of these societies know they need more and more people living in ignorance and poverty to retain their power and there's no better way of accomplishing that than subjugating women, denying them both birth control and education.

Secondary to that, we must redefine our measures of "economic productivity." What we call "productivity" today is directly proportional to the damage we are doing to both the natural environment and the human spirit.

If we don't deal with our own human problems now then nature will deal with us later. Exponential growth always ends badly.

100,000 years from now, whether or not we humans somehow "save" ourselves, this civilization is just a layer of trash, slowly fossilizing, with new species evolving.

I'm still able to muster some optimism for our species, even though it appears Mother Nature has already pushed the "reset" button and the system is going down for system halt now. Some of our own work and some of our familiar environment may yet survive.

[Cleita]

35. I don't know how many times I have posted this at DU but still the

Chinese method of limiting families by forcing them to have one child even to the point of forcing abortion on second time mothers still seems to be an accepted solution among some DUers. Yet, there have been many studies in the last fifty years that note in societies where women get an education and the means to control their own fertility, birth rates stabilize or even go down and all this without forced Draconian measures but real choice.

Of course allowing evangelical lunatics to close and bomb women's health clinics and kill their doctors aren't going to help control our population. So my suggestion to you is if you want laws passed make them laws that criminalize those wacko's actions with stiff penalties and protect those clinics and doctors that have the real solutions for this problem.

[Cleita]

18. Seems like this one already has. He, like many domestic feral cats, have found a

nice lair under the crawl space of a probably very nice home, since nice homes prevail in that area. There are plenty of poodles and other domestic critters to feed on if the wild catch becames sparse. I've had feral cats live under my house at times in the past. One even moved indoors with us after awhile. I know we can't tear civilization down, but I think we could build our roads and buildings with an eye to co-habiting with the wildlife, or we could go back to walled cities like in the middle ages and leave the wilderness to the animals. That's where we get all our scary fairy tales about things that go bump in the night in the forest. It was to keep children from exploring the wilds because there could be dangerous predators lurking in the trees and grasses.

[GoCubsGo]

11. A tennis ball launcher?

Why not a laser pointer? Or a kitty cat fishing toy?

They just need to leave him alone. He'll leave when he gets hungry enough. And, then close up the entrance so he can't go back in.

[Cleita]

12. Seems kind of silly, doesn't it?

[niyad]

14. let's see--flashing lights at the poor thing, poking at him, scaring him--and they wonder

why he isn't coming out??? geee, ya think??????

leave the poor thing alone, go away. he will leave when he gets hungry.

[Cleita]

19. I think that's his lair. I would bet he's been living there for awhile. There is a reason

the Native Americans call them ghost because you seldom know they are around unless they attack you or you know what their trail is like footprints and other signs that they have been around.

[niyad]

20. being weird, I would love it if one of those maginificent beings took up residence around me.

[Cleita]

21. I don't know where you live, but if you live in cougar country, most likely there is

one close by. They are really good at blending in with the landscape and very quiet in moving around. I have seen one where I live, now and then, on a hill opposite my hill. They are very hard to detect because of the way they move through the brush and how they blend in, but sometimes the long tail gives them away and you see it slinking through the brush hardly detectable if you aren't looking really carefully.

[niyad]

44. don't I wish. we do have deer, raccoon, fox, skunk, and bear around here, and some have

even reported mountain lions a couple of miles away. keeps me entertained. the local wildlife have apparently decided that I am no threat to any of them. almost walked into a deer a couple of weeks ago when I was looking down at something. we both just stood there for a few minutes. not my first close encounter with any of them.

[Cleita]

45. You probably have cougars.

Where there are deer, there are predators. Also mountain lions' range can be 100 sq. miles. So if they are a few miles away, I'm sure you have one or two up close. Familiarize yourself with the paw prints. If you have a lake or stream close by, go look in the wet mud in the morning. They come for a drink of water some time in the night and that's how you know. I once saw the prints around aound my mailbox after a heavy rain when the ground was soft and muddy.

Don't worry too much because they actually are shy of humans and hide during the day. They prefer Jack rabbits and deer. I used to be a camp ground host and one of my jobs was to look for signs of cougars and bears so I could warn my campers to be cautious and watch their small children and pets.

[niyad]

46. oh, I am not worried at all, I would be thrilled. the nearest stream is several blocks away, and

has a bike path next to it.

[msanthrope]

22. Apparently. ..he's out. Jeebus, I once had an opossum in the beach house

and I lost my s*** and had to call the cops......can't even imagine what these people went through.

[Cleita]

23. On his own or did they force him out?

[msanthrope]

24. On his own.....they left him alone and he vacated...your link has been updated. nt

[Cleita]

25. Thank God. I hope he goes away from homes.

I didn't realize that he was already a celebrity.

[MineralMan]

26. PUMAS! COUGARS! PANTHERS! Oh, my!

There must be an election coming up.

[Cleita]

27. Hmmm. You make it sound like football season. eom

[Paper Roses]

28. This poor cat. We have taken away the habitat of this and other wildlife.

We put terror in their hearts. We shoot and kill all kinds of animals who are doing nothing more than struggle to keep themselves fed.
I hope this poor cat gets somewhere not accessible to the gun toting people who would shoot him.

I know there are safety issues but I hope this poor cat has made it back to nature safely.

[Cleita]

30. He's tagged for study by biologists.

My fear is that if he continues to come in contact with humans, they might try to remove him from the area or even kill him. I think there is a no hunting restriction in Griffith Park and the surrounding area.

[Botany]

29. Feeding time

Maybe not because I don't know if a puma can digest silicon and botox.

I wonder if the animal is hurt?

[Cleita]

31. He's already overcome mange and poisoning with rat poison,

probably put out by some idiot to kill raccoons or coyotes. The Wildlife people seem to think he's healthy.

[Botany]

34. Wildlife officials: Mountain lion no longer under L.A. home

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/04/14/california-mountain-lion-p22-under-los-angeles-home/25754503/

A well-known California mountain lion that was holed up under a Los Angeles home is finally gone, California wildlife officials say.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife tweeted out Tuesday, "The cougar has left the building."

************

He might have picked up the poison from what he was eating. Rule #1 when putting out
rat and mouse bait only put it in an area where the rats and or mice can get it.

[Cleita]

37. Actually, don't put any poison out at all. There are ways of controlling pests

that don't involve harmful chemicals. I have never had to put out poison and I do get rodent problems now and then. The problem is especially when you put it in food to attract them. It also attracts your pets and other animals. One of our labs almost died from snail poison.

[jonno99]

33. Uh - did I miss something? why not simply tranquilize the animal and pull it out?

[Cleita]

36. I think there was too much media and commotion going on. eom

[jmowreader]

38. If he'd have stayed in there, imagine the realtor at house-selling time

"Oh yeah...in addition to the thirty-year-old roof you'll probably want to replace, and the polybutylene pipe you definitely want to replace, there's a mountain lion living in the crawl space."

'Is it dangerous?'

"Not to humans, but you probably should reconsider that teacup-poodle farm you were talking about..."

[Cleita]

39. The owners of the house said they have three cats and were thinking

of adopting another one, but that cat was not what they had in mind. It seems they have a sense of humor about the incident.

[hifiguy]

41. Ted Nugent calls himself a badass.

Stick him in that crawl space, unarmed, and let the mountain lion have a little "chat" with him about leaving.

My money's on the lion.

[Cleita]

42. I wouldn't want the noble beast to get indigestion.

I rather feed Nugent to a wild boar. There now would be a bad ass contest.

[niyad]

43. you are correct, digesting the nuge would be cruelty to that magnificent cat. love your

idea of the boar, though.