The lion is a young male about 98-pounds. Chris Healy with the Nevada Department of Wildlife speculates the animal was chased out of his territory by older males competing for female breeding partners.
Healy says the lion came down the Truckee river corridor at night and walked right through the city of Reno.
"Why he emerged from the river corridor and how he ended up underneath the stage at the plaza at Harrah's hotel and casino is anybody's guess."
Wildlife officials tranquilized and removed the lion. Then
they tagged his ear, put a special collar on him and released him
into the wild…in the Carson range west of Reno.
"The more we know about their wanderings the better we can
make better decisions to try to: 1) keep the populations healthy;
and 2) be able to remind humans what they need to do if they're
going to live in mountain lion or bear country."
Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno will be
tracking the animal for the school's Mountain Lion Study.