Port Angeles: Family searches for lost pet bobcat that can sound like Tweetie Bird

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, April 14, 2004

PORT ANGELES — Darby loves catnip, dines daily on raw meat and can easily jump over an adult’s head.

In place of a meow, the friendly feline emits a chirping, “Tweety Bird-like” sound or purrs when he’s happy, Darby’s owner, Cherie Lemon, says.

Though most of his species spend their lives in the wild, Darby, who is a bobcat, made his first lengthy foray from his Black Diamond-area home Sunday afternoon.

Now the Lemons are searching passionately to get their pet back.

They’ve posted fliers, placed a lost-and-found ad, used search dogs and tromped through the woods calling the bobcat’s name.

“This is really, really hard,” Lemon said Tuesday. “We’re just devastated.”

Anyone who spots the cat is asked to call 360-452-4855.