PESCADERO, California — Law-enforcement officials are crediting a “swift-acting” custodian who managed to trap a mountain lion in an empty classroom Wednesday morning after the big cat wandered into a high school.
A news release from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were notified the mountain lion, believed to be a cub, entered Pescadero High School at about 8:23 a.m. No students or teachers were in the school at the time.
“The mountain lion casually walked through campus and decided to go into an English classroom, ” Detective Javier Acosta tells the Associated Press. “The custodian acted quickly and managed to shut the door behind it.”
The sheriff’s office called the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to the high school. The cub, a male approximately 4-6 months old and weighing about 40 pounds, was safely removed from the classroom and taken to the Oakland Zoo for a health assessment. It reportedly will be released back into the wild.
Students and staff at the school were sent home for the day as a safety precaution.