Mountain lion prowls high school campus in Granada Hills

State wildlife officers and local police tranquilized a mountain lion that was spotted at a Granada Hills high school Friday afternoon.

Police said officers received a call shortly before 11:30 a.m. of a mountain lion in the bushes at John F. Kennedy High School, triggering a campus lockdown.

By 12:44 p.m., police said, the cougar had been hit with a tranquilizer dart and was stumbling around in the backyard of a home in the 16400 block of Donmetz Street.

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“He just wanted to get under cover after we put a dart in him,� said Andrew Hughan, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

When it was clear that the mountain lion was out cold, wildlife officers used leather restraints to bind its paws and then removed the animal from the yard, authorities said.

Hughan said that Granada Hills is on the edge of mountain lion habitat but that it still was unusual to see one of the big cats in the city during the day.

“This is best-case scenario,� Hughan said of the successful darting. The animal will be trucked “back into the hills� and released he said.

“This is not regular, but it does happen quite frequently,� Hughan said. “We’re pretty experienced at this.�

The lockdown at Kennedy high school prompted by the lion was lifted.

KCBS-TV captured a photo of the mountain lion as he was trucked away.

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