Las Vegas chase for star's wallaby

Wayne Newton is a Las Vegas legend

A wallaby that escaped from the home of Las Vegas singer Wayne Newton led police and an urban cowboy on a chase around the entertainment city.

Animal control officers and the lasso-touting cowboy followed the marsupial for two miles through Las Vegas in an attempt to capture the wayward animal.

Priscilla the wallaby was first spotted in the early hours of Thursday morning jumping down a busy street near to Newton's home, said Joe Boteilho of Clark County Animal Control.

Self-described "redneck and cowboy" Harry Sullard, 49, got a call from his son to say he had spotted a kangaroo.

Despite his reservations, Mr Sullard grabbed his lasso and went off on foot in search of the stray animal.

After about 20 minutes he had tracked down the errant wallaby and employed his lasso.

Wallabies have powerful legs which make them difficult to capture

The modest Mr Sullard said: "I'm not very good because I missed him the first two times. But I got him the third time."

The animal was later returned to Newton's walled compound unharmed.

Newton's publicist said investigations were underway to discover how Priscilla has managed to escape.

Newton has become a permanent fixture on the Las Vegas circuit, entertaining nightly packed-out audiences with his singing and wise-cracking extravaganzas.

He appeared as himself in the remake of heist thriller Ocean's Eleven, played Professor Joe Butcher in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill and has guest starred in a number of US sitcoms.