CARLSBORG — The screaming started around 2 a.m. Wednesday, Angela Jacobsen said.
“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.
