Wayne Newton's wallaby escapes
Man chases 'Priscilla' for two miles, captures with lasso
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Harry Sullard displays the lasso used in the Thursday morning capture.
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Wayne Newton's wallaby escaped from the performer's home Thursday morning, leading police, animal control officers and an urban cowboy on a two-mile chase through south Las Vegas.
The female adult wallaby, a marsupial with clawed fingers and powerful legs, first was seen about 6:30 a.m. running down a busy street near Newton's walled compound, said Joe Boteilho of Clark County Animal Control.
About the same time, Harry Sullard, 49, got a call from his oldest son, who said there was a kangaroo on the loose.
"I asked him what he had been smoking," Sullard recalled.
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Wayne Newton
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But Sullard, a self-described redneck and cowboy, grabbed a lasso from his truck and took off on foot after the hopping wallaby, named Priscilla.
The chase lasted nearly two miles, Sullard said, as he hoped the animal would tire. When she did, Sullard pounced with his authentic rodeo rope.
"I'm not very good because I missed him the first two times," he said. "But I got him the third time. She started kicking but calmed down."
An animal control officer snared Priscilla about 6:50 a.m. and got the animal secured in an officer's truck. Boteilho said Priscilla was returned unharmed to Newton.
Newton's publicist, Tricia McCrone, said investigators were trying to determine how Priscilla got out of the compound.
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