A mountain lion decided to show up for final exams at a northern California high school on Wednesday.
The curious cougar was quickly corralled by an alert custodian who confined it to an empty English classroom at Pescadero High School, authorities said.
“The mountain lion casually walked through campus and decided to go into an English classroom,” Detective Javier Acosta of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said, according to The Associated Press. “The custodian acted quickly and managed to shut the door behind it.”
No one was injured, but the students and staff were sent home for the rest of the day for precautionary reasons, the sheriff's office said. The surprise guest ended up disrupting final exams at the high school as well as the eighth-grade graduation, according to NBC Bay Area.
The mountain lion's trip to English class does not appear to have been staged, although it certainly was convenient for the students who may not have studied for final exams.
“I honestly thought it was a senior prank at first because it is the day before school is out, but I quickly learned, based on the source of the information, that that was not the case,” La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District Superintendent Amy Wooliever told NBC Bay Area.
The custodian discovered the mountain lion when he was opening the school early in the morning, officials said.
The 40-pound animal was tranquilized and captured by wildlife officials and then transported to the Oakland Zoo, where it will undergo an evaluation, according to NBC Bay Area.