A janitor was shocked to discover a “lost and scared” mountain lion cub in an empty classroom in a school in California.

The staff member was opening the school at the beginning of the day on Wednesday when they found the cub hiding under the teacher’s desk, officials said.

No students or teachers were at Pescadero High School at the time.

A picture on social media showed the animal had made itself comfortable by curling up next to furniture.

Javier Acosto, a detective in the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, said: “The mountain lion casually walked through campus and decided to go into an English classroom.

“The custodian acted quickly and managed to shut the door behind it.”

The animal appeared “lost and scared”, he said.

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It is not known how the mountain lion, a male estimated to be between four and six months old and weigh 40lbs, managed to enter the school.

Officials from the state wildlife department tranquilised the animal and sent it to the Oakland Zoo for examination.

The zoo said it would stay there as it is too young to survive alone in the wild.

Mountain lions spend their first two years learning from their mothers, but officials have not seen any other mountain lions in the area that could be related to the cub.

The cub had a fractured tooth that will need to be removed, KTVU-TV reported.

Pescadero is a small coastal community about 35 miles south of San Francisco.

School officials decided to go ahead with classes, but students were kept away from the room with the cub while state game personnel decided how to proceed, Mr Acosta said.

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