Sparks, Neb. ? A mountain lion appearing to be at least 2 years old was captured on camera in August, marking the 15th confirmed puma sighting in Nebraska since 1991, state wildlife officials said Friday.

A hunter’s trail camera set up to take pictures at random captured the image between Aug. 9 and Aug. 21 east of Sparks, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials said.

It was impossible to determine the sex and exact age of the mountain lion from the photograph, said Bruce Morrison, a big game wildlife biologist with the commission.

Mountain lions are protected in Nebraska, with people allowed to kill them only if they present a clear and present danger, or if they are harming livestock.

Mountain lions had not turned up in Nebraska for more than a century until a deer hunter in the Pine Ridge area killed one in 1991.

In Lawrence, Kan., reports of recent mountain lion sightings date to 2002. A Kansas University professor rigged a motion-detection camera and photographed what he believed to be a mountain lion in October 2003 in a wooded area on KU’s west campus. Reports of other sightings have been logged as recently as March.

Biologists believe mountain lions are roaming from higher density areas in the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills to make their way into Nebraska and Iowa.