COYLE — A large cougar that appears to be indiscriminately killing, but not necessarily eating, domestic animals on the Toandos Peninsula has its tracker encouraging residents to lock up their farm animals in barns or other roofed enclosures at night or when away.
Sgt. Phil Henry, state Fish and Wildlife agent based in Port Townsend, confirmed Friday that another large farm animal, a billy goat weighing between 120 and 130 pounds, was killed by a cougar Wednesday night about 4 miles north of similar killings near the tip of the Peninsula.
“He only killed it and didn’t eat on it at all,” Henry said, adding that goat’s trachea was crushed when it was bitten on the neck.
“This guy just likes killing and leaving them.”
Henry suspects the goat was killed by the same cougar that killed three alpacas and a milk goat over 2 ½ weeks ago on property owned by Mark and Aly Stratton at 214 Gien Drive.
Also likely cougar kills were three miniature horses found dead in the area recently, he said.
No people have been threatened.
Henry said the big cougar, which he estimates may weight 70 pounds or more, has become his top priority.
“We’ll keep at it until we get this guy,” he said Friday afternoon, following several hours of tracking.
“The word’s out, so hopefully we can get a fresh sighting.”
The cougar is suspected in other killings, but Henry said they could not be confirmed because animal owners failed to contact the State Patrol immediately at 360- 478-4646, or 9-1-1.
This is vital in helping to apprehend dangerous wild animals, he said.
Picked up scent
Henry, who spend most of last week on the Toandos Peninsula tracking the cougar without success, managed to track it for awhile early Friday morning but never saw it.
A resident reported seeing the cougar crossing Coyle Road at about 10 p.m. Thursday near the former Rock Haven and the Toandos Peninsula’s only cell phone tower.
The animal headed into a clear cut area toward Camp Harmony, the reporting party said.
Henry said a hound tracked the wild animal from Camp Harmony south to the Peninsula’s tip.
“We got a couple of whiffs, and the dog barked, but there was nothing there,” he said.
Dry, warm weather quickly evaporates the animal’s scent, Henry said. Under present weather conditions, night is best for tracking because it is cooler and more moist.
Cougar did come back
Henry said he learned that the cougar returned to the Strattons’ corral Wednesday night to feed on two alpaca carcasses he asked them to leave to lure the animal back.
The Strattons had said that they never saw the animal return.
A neighbor who was staking out the Strattons’ property spotted the animal but “spoke up and scared it off,” Henry said, and then didn’t report it immediately.
Henry is based in Port Townsend, more than 40 miles from Coyle, and the isolated area is about 60 miles east of Port Angeles.
The houndsman lives in Shelton, so responses to calls can be delayed by distance, Henry said.
Smaller animals that have been reported killed by wildlife, including turkeys, may have been killed by coyotes or bobcats, he said.
“If it’s a llama, alpaca or a large sheep, it’s usually a cougar kill,” he said last week.
Stout fences will usually keep out coyotes or bobcats, but a cougar can leap over tall fences.
A cougar injured Aug. 17 was killed by state troopers after the cat was struck by a car just north of Quilcene.
The 100-pound female cougar was crossing U.S. Highway 101 around 2:45 p.m. when a car struck and mortally wounded the animal, which a state trooper shot several times before it died.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
