PORT ANGELES — Kim Payne no longer lets her children play near the tree-shrouded creek next to their house.
She has mowed the tall, green grass bordering her yard down to a short height for better visibility, puts her cats in the garage by 5 p.m. and worries that her family may be unsafe on their own property.
Payne and others living in the quiet, rural neighborhood west of William R. Fairchild International Airport say they fear a cougar — or more than one — is wandering through their fields and stalking their animals.
They wonder if their children are next.
“It’s taken our little paradise and made us paranoid,” Payne said Wednesday afternoon, standing in her yard off Critchfield Road. “It’s not fun.”
In the past month, a newborn calf, a Dachshund and a house cat have gone missing from homes in the area, losses the neighbors attribute to a cougar they say they have heard growling and snarling as it roams their property.
———-
The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE, above, to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
