California family find mountain lion lounging in their bathroom

The big cat wandered into the home in the Sierra Nevada foothills and took refuge in the bathroom before being coaxed out

Vivian Ho in San Francisco

Wed 18 Sep 2019 21.15 BSTLast modified on Thu 19 Sep 2019 19.35 BST

In the photo, the lounging mountain lion looks almost shocked, as if caught mid-exclamation while yelling, “Get out!” Given the setting – a bathroom in a northern California home – no one could blame the big cat for wanting some privacy.

But in this case, it was the lion that was the unwanted guest. On Monday night it wandered into a family home in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 50 miles outside of Yosemite National Park.

The mountain lion banged through the front screen door of the home in Sonora, breezing past both the home’s residents before fully comprehending what it had done, said Andrea Benson, a sergeant with the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s office.

The lion ran deeper into the house once it spotted the residents, ending up in a bathroom, and the residents quickly shut the door behind it, Benson said.

They went into the basement and called for help, while the mountain lion appeared to take the opportunity to knock around toiletries. The sheriff’s department and the state department of fish and wildlife responded, using a ladder to get a peek – and a photo – of the mountain lion in the second-story bathroom.

With the residents’ permission, the sheriff’s deputies broke the window and worked with the wildlife department to coax the animal out.

“The officers were pounding on the wall to get his attention, and shining the light on the window area to show that there was a path to escape,” Benson said. “He finally was able to jump out the window.”

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