Mountain lion trying to get inside California hair salon slams into window instead

A California hair salon had a very unexpected guest — a young mountain lion.

Mountain lions aren’t seen very frequently in Irvine, but this one made his way into the city in the early afternoon on March 22, running through a busy shopping center before making his way to the salon, KTLA reported.

Police received reports that a mountain lion had been seen in town at around 1:15 p.m., according to the outlet.

The animal first ran past the hair salon, Bishops Cuts and Colors, the East Bay Times reported. Then, he ran into the glass storefront, startling customers and employees inside, the outlet reported.

Employees were able to close the salon’s doors and put the store on temporary lockdown while police responded, according to the East Bay Times.

“At first, I thought it was a robbery or maybe a shooting,” employee Claire Leenerts told KTLA. “It was very scary. I’m looking over and I just see it slammed right into our glass.”

After hitting the glass, the lion ran off, darting into a nearby office building, the East Bay Times reported.

At that point, a veterinarian was able to get close enough to the mountain lion to shoot a tranquilizer dart at his shoulder, the Los Angeles Times reported.

From there, he was taken to a local animal hospital for treatment, the Irvine Police Department said in a pun-filled Facebook post.

“We are not lion, we had a purr-ty scary situation on our paws today,” the department said in the post. “As our claw-enforcement officers arrived, the lion ran towards the shopping center nearly causing a fur-enzy as it is uncommon for a mountain lion to be seen in Irvine.”

The animal seemed generally healthy, according to Dr. Scott Weldy, a veterinarian who treated him.

““He was in really good shape,” Weldy told the Los Angeles Times. “He had ticks and fleas on him — but that’s about it.”

Californians have experienced more mountain lion sightings than usual in recent years, according to the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. The animals are “solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans,” the department’s website says.

People who do run into mountain lions are advised to stay calm and push down the impulse to run away, as running from a mountain lion might trigger its instincts to chase, catch and kill, the department says.

People should also avoid squatting or bending down, as this might cause the lion to mistake them for 4-legged prey.

Instead, people faced with a mountain lion should continue to face the lion, make noise and try to look bigger, and throw rocks or other objects. Any small children should be picked up off the ground, the department says.

If the lion attacks, people should fight back, making an effort to stay on their feet and protect their head and neck.

The mountain lion that appeared in Irvine was around 16 to 20 months old, The East Bay Times reported.

“There’s a lot of networks of ... waterways and things like that all over Southern California, and the cats use those as their freeway system,” Weldy told the Los Angeles Times. “This guy obviously turned left instead of turning right and went the wrong direction, and ended up in Irvine.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Mountain lion trying to get inside California hair salon slams into window instead."