Famous mountain lion P-22 shows up on Los Feliz driveaway
As Damon Ross and Cylin Busby were getting home Saturday night, they were shocked to see an old resident stop by their driveway.
P-22, a mountain lion who is a well-known and documented wildlife resident of the Los Feliz and Griffith Park area, was hanging out right outside the couple's home in Los Feliz.
Wildlife officials have been tracking P-22 since 2012, when he made the great 50 mile trek crossing both the 101 and the 405 Freeways to go from the Santa Monica Mountains to Griffith Park.
While the couple was scared of the big cat, they certainly wanted to take a photo of the "famous Hollywood cat."
"We were driving up the street at night, just saw a rather creepy movie and we see a large creature from this side of the block to our house," Ross said, describing the moment he laid eyes on P-22. "He was right there in front of us, three feet away. Thankfully we were in our car."
Ross and Busy were so close to the mountain lion that they quickly identified who he was.
"Living in sort of Los Feliz, Hollywood Hills, he's sort of a legend," Ross said.
"He just kind of looked at us and we looked at him and he looked at us, we looked at him, he looked at us and we were like who is going to flinch?," Busby told CBSLA Reporter Jake Reiner.
The good news is that no one was injured or harmed.
While P-22 is well-known and liked by Los Feliz residents, he's an animal that can cause great bodily harm.
"So then I started thinking, are we going to stay in a hotel, you know your mind goes to a weird place," Busby said.
Fortunately the situation did not require that as the big cat eventually left and the couple was able to enter its home after three to four minutes went by.
Ironically, the couple told Reiner that an artist who works out at the gym Ross and Busby go to is currently painting a portrait of P-22.
