Woman whose peacock is missing finds only plumes — and fear that a cougar killed bird
Angela Jacobsen, collecting feathers Wednesday evening behind her home in Carlsborg, believes a mountain lion killed her pet peacock early Wednesday morning. -- Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
Print This |
Email This
Recent Headlines
To our readers . . . about the Aspire! Quartet’s Singing Valentine program -- 2/10/12 -01:53 PM
Floating luxury home hits the water, now moored at Point Hudson [**Video**] -- 2/10/12 -01:03 PM
Mountain goat population up about 40 percent in Olympic Mountains -- 2/10/12 -12:07 PM
417.9 million bites later . . . (does this video warrant that much attention?) -- 2/10/12 -12:02 PM
Josh Powell had ‘incestuous’ sex images, investigators say -- 2/10/12 -09:32 AM
"It was blood-curdling. I went out in my nightgown," to the woods surrounding her home on Toad Road.
The noise was coming from her small flock of birds — two peahens, four chicks and one peacock.
The peacock was nowhere to be seen, so Jacobsen, carrying a flashlight, searched the tall grass behind the house.
"There were feathers strewn everywhere," she said.
Jacobsen never found the peacock. She believes a cougar killed him.
"I went home and cried all night," she said.
"We don't know if it was a cougar or not," state Fish and Wildlife Department officer Win Miller said Wednesday afternoon.
"My first sense is it may not be."
But Jacobsen pointed out that on July 22, Carlsborg farmer Paul Hansen sighted a 6-foot mountain lion disappearing into the brush.
Hansen shot at the lion, but wasn't sure he hit it. The farmer believes a cougar has killed six of his sheep and left a gash in the throat of his breeding ram, which survived.
Hansen's property is more than a half-mile from Jacobsen. His wife, Deborah Hansen, said Wednesday night that they've had no more cougar trouble since July.
Miller also said it's possible a coyote or a bobcat killed the resplendent bird.
Hounds to hunt
Fish and Wildlife will lease a hound or two to search for the predator, whatever it is.
"If we tree a cougar, we could immobilize it," with a tranquilizer dart, "and transport it to the upper Dungeness," far south of Sequim.
A more likely scenario, Miller said, would be "dispatching" the lion.
Few officers carry the immobilization guns and the drugs needed to dart a cougar.
Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Phillip Henry has said that the state's best option is to kill cougars suspected of taking livestock.
And once a big cat develops a taste for sheep or other small domestic animals, the farmers usually want them dead, Miller added.
Fish and Wildlife officers killed a cougar near Quilcene a few months ago, he said.
Landowners are permitted to protect their livestock and properties by humanely killing such predators.
Miller urges anyone who sees a cougar — or signs of one — to phone 9-1-1.
The State Patrol will notify Fish and Wildlife officers who'll search for the animal.
The fresher the scent, the easier it is to track, Miller said.
Meantime, neither Paul Hansen nor Jacobsen think a coyote killed the sheep and peacock.
Hansen said those creatures usually take newborns, not the market lambs like those taken from his farm.
Jacobsen is still shaken by the loss of her peacock, which she adopted a year ago when his former owner, her 92-year-old grandmother, could no longer care for him.
The peacock has since sired seven chicks, four of which live with Jacobsen's two peahens in a pen.
The peacock had been attacked before, by a neighbor's dog, Jacobsen added.
"The dog ran down here and ripped his entire tail out," about six months ago.
She spent $200 on veterinary care, and the peacock had only recently grown back his iridescent plumes.
A few weeks ago, a feral cat killed one of his chicks, Jacobsen also believes. "This neighborhood is full of cats."
Jacobsen worries the big cat will frighten the rest of her animals, including her small flock of pet ducks and geese, and her small dog.
She makes sure the birds are in their pen each evening.
The peacock wasn't penned when she went to bed Tuesday night, she said sadly.
"He was hiding," in the woods, Jacobsen said, adding that the bird had seemed distraught since Monday night, when she suspects a cougar paid a visit to her property.
Quiet season
Miller, a 30-year veteran of the Fish and Wildlife Department, said the July cougar sighting in Carlsborg and this week's possible cougar incident don't constitute a busy lion season.
"It's been quieter than some of the summers in the 1990s," he said.
Lions were seen last summer near Port Angeles and Sequim — and in the backyard of another Toad Road home in October 2006.
"Whenever there's an article in the paper about a cougar sighting," such as the July 25 report on the Hansens' losses, "we get more cougar sightings. It's human nature."
If one encounters a cougar, the most important thing to remember is "don't turn around and run away," Miller advised.
"They react to movement; a cougar's instinct is to chase.
"You don't want to be food, so stand tall. Be big. Pick up children immediately.
"Slowly back away, look the cat in the eyes, and try to appear larger by getting above it.
"Don't crouch down or try to hide. And don't try to corner the cougar."
An adult male mountain lion weighs between 140 pounds to 220 pounds, while females tend to be lighter, at 90 pounds to 120 pounds.
"Ninety-nine percent of the time they're going to be gone," as soon as a human arrives on the scene, Miller added.
"They're curious. But they don't want to be seen."
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: August 06. 2008 9:00PM