Celebrity mountain lion hides from rescuers, media under L.A. house

A famed mountain lion with his own Facebook fan page has triggered a media storm by taking refuge in the crawl space under a Los Angeles house and resisting all efforts to evict him.

Workers installing a security system in the home in the affluent hillside Los Feliz neighborhood came face to face with the animal known as P-22 on Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported.

As television channel helicopters flew overhead, officials tried to prod the cat with a long pole and get its attention with tennis balls, before resorting to shooting at it with bean bags, but to no avail, the paper said.

"I didn't think for two seconds that it was a mountain lion in my house," house owner Jason Archinaco told the Times. "If someone says Big Foot's in your house, you go, 'Yeah,' and you stick your head in there," he added.

The cat became something of a small celebrity in the area after it was discovered living in nearby Griffith Park about three years ago. Wildlife officials said it must have crossed two freeways to get there.

Local authorities named him P-22 and more than 1,400 people have since signed up to "like" the "Friends of P22 Mountain Lion" Facebook page.