Cougar captured in valley

Authorities on Wednesday tranquilized a mountain lion that was roaming neighborhoods near Floyd Lamb State Park about five hours after the animal was first spotted in a backyard.

The cat is expected to be euthanized.

Police officers received a call at 10 a.m. that the 80- to 100-pound cat was in a car in the Steeple Chase Estates subdivision, near Grand Teton Drive and North Rainbow Boulevard.

The mountain lion then jumped out of the vehicle, scaled a fence and started moving throughout residential areas, said Roman Denby, Las Vegas police spokesman.

By 10:30 a.m., helicopters swarmed above nearly a dozen patrol units surveying the area. Nervous residents watched from windows and balconies as authorities warned them over a loudspeaker to stay inside. Officers with dart rifles stood on fences overlooking streets near Saville Middle School.

The school, at 8101 N. Torrey Pines Drive, was placed on lockdown in the afternoon. Despite it being winter break, some students were at the school for basketball and cheerleading practice, Denby said.

In addition to school district and Las Vegas police, Clark County Animal Control, the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the State Game Warden all responded to the scene, Denby said.

After hearing the helicopters flying over her house, Tresha Falco frantically drove to the campus to make sure her 13-year-old son, Robert, was OK.

Falco feared some sort of school violence.

"I feel a lot better now that I know it was a mountain lion. I still don't want him walking home alone though," she said.

C.J. Priamos stood on nearby Racel Street watching the spectacle. He came out of his house armed and prepared to defend against an attack in case the mountain lion tried to harm his three horses, which he locked inside a barn.

"At first I thought it was just some nut case prowling around the school," Priamos said.

"This could become a bad problem with all the horses out here," he added.

"There's lots of food and water out here. That's what those cats are looking for. More than anything they come down for water."

By 1 p.m. authorities had canvassed the area and, having had no luck locating the animal, called off the search.

Two hours later they were back at it. At 3:15 p.m., police and officials descended on the Silverstone Ranch neighborhood, just over a mile from the school.

Neighbors called police after seeing the cat drinking from a backyard fountain on the 8300 block of Celina Hills Street, overlooking the Silverstone Golf Club on Rainbow Boulevard.

Authorities spotted the cat lying next to a wall in the side yard of a house, and a Clark County Animal Control officer was able to shoot it with a tranquilizer gun through an opening in the wall, animal control supervisor David March said.

It took authorities about 20 minutes to get into position to tranquilize it, said neighbor Robert Bantleon, who found some of the cat's fur and showed neighborhood children its paw print once the animal had been taken away.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife took possession of the animal. Plans are to euthanize it because it showed no fear of humans, spokesman Doug Nielsen said.

"It's a predator, so our biggest concern is he was comfortable enough in that environment that he never left," Nielsen added.

The mountain lion had been spotted in the area for a couple of days and didn't flee after Wednesday's search activity, said Nielsen, who writes an outdoors column for the Review-Journal.

Although mountain lion attacks on humans are rare, dogs and cats make easy prey for the predators.

Most mountain lions in the valley are just passing through, but they can stick around if they find a good food source and lose their fear of people, Nielsen said.

Many predators are attracted to golf courses and the smorgasbord of small animals they provide.

Even if this mountain lion were to be relocated to its natural habitat, it would probably come down to the valley again because it knows there's a food source, he said.

The mountain lion was the first captured in the valley since 2004, when wildlife officials caught three.

State wildlife officials received reports of nine mountain lion sightings last year, but none was confirmed and the cats could have been confused with other animals, such as dogs or coyotes, Nielsen said.

Priamos wasn't that surprised by Wednesday's mountain lion sighting. He said he frequently hears reports of coyotes roaming the area, and lately he has been hearing about bobcats and mountain lions descending on the valley.

Priamos blames the city's rapid development for the problem.

"None of this was here before," he said with a sigh as he surveyed the schoolyard and rows of new houses. "Back in 1999 it was just horse properties. ... We could ride all the way out to Ann Road."

Urban residents will be seeing a lot more wayward wildlife as development continues along the outer edges of the valley, Nielsen said.

"As we push further into these undeveloped areas ... we are moving right into their kitchens or living rooms and wondering why they're there," he said.

Contact reporter Beth Walton at bwalton@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0279.