Are the performing lions and white tigers the only big cats in Las Vegas? Are there mountain lions there too? Were people seeing things there the second day of the New Year?

Mountain lions, also known as cougars, panthers, or pumas, have a wide range throughout the West, including in Nevada, and populations are increasing. But are there panthers wild in Las Vegas?

History would tell us that they are around.

In 1991, at the Nevada Test Site, north of Las Vegas, Nevada, Mary Saether, was attacked by a 120-pound female mountain lion. She suffered minor cuts and received 21 stitches on her head, right arm, and back. The cougar crept up on Saether and two male companions and attacked before they were aware of its presence. The two men beat the lion with their cameras forcing it to release Saether. A Wildlife Services Specialist arrived the next day. As he was doing a preliminary check, he heard noise in a tree and turned to find the lion charging. The man had only enough time to draw his handgun and shoot the lion at point blank range. The lion was found to be in good health.

The 1992 reports for Nevada list mountain lion depredations were listed as follows: 9 calves, 1 horse, 4 colts, 5 goats, 318 sheep, and 400 lambs.

But there’s another side of Vegas too.

It was a surprising find at the front gates of the Las Vegas Zoo in September 2006. Someone abandoned a sick mountain lion, an apparent rejected pet grown too big for its former owner. The puma was dropped off and zoo staff members nursed the animal back to health. How often does this happen there?

What was all the uproar in Las Vegas today? Reports and sightings of a big cat in a gated community in Las Vegas?

Here’s the final outcome, late tonight.

Police captured a more than 100-pound mountain lion in a Las Vegas neighborhood Wednesday, authorities said.

Police and animal control officials tracked the animal to a back yard after it eluded capture early in the day and then reappeared Wednesday afternoon.

The animal was tranquilized and captured without incident, Las Vegas police spokesman Bill Cassell said. It was handed over the Nevada Division of Wildlife and will be released in a less densely populated environment, he said.

No injuries were reported.

Authorities estimated the mountain lion weighed between 100 pounds and 110 pounds.

It was first seen in a gated community about 12 miles northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Residents were told to remain indoors, and children at a nearby middle school during winter break were locked down while officials searched the neighborhood after the initial 10 a.m. sighting.

Police gave up after three hours, and then got another call.

“It did what all good suspects do,” Cassell said. “It waited for the cops to leave and then took a walk down the street.”“Authorities catch mountain lion in Las Vegas neighborhood,” Las Vegas Sun, January 2, 2008.

Tonight, it is remains at one of the Las Vegas animal shelters until released back into the wild.

Thanks for early word of this flap from Boing Boing’s David Pescovitz.