Halibut Point State Park has recently been adopted by a new kind of creature at once adorable and confounding. Kitty loves to tangle in my feet and roll over for a tummy rub while I'm concentrating on squaring the tripod for a photograph of an intriguing bird. You can imagine my conflicted feelings.
Kitty sports a glossy coat, a GPS locator around its neck, and a charming purr. Look closely and you'll also see that the remorseless stare in its eyes is one hundred percent feline.
When his acute senses detect motion or rustling sounds in the wood line, Kitty advances in a crouch like the stealthiest of its kin on the savannah.
After a momentary quiver he springs. The meadow suddenly has a potent new factor in the drama of life and death.
Kitty with a trophy and a morsel.
In Kitty's equivalent of a victory lap he juggles, flips, and bats his victim.
Then he settles down to feed on certain delectable parts of its anatomy.
Knowingly or not Kitty has stepped out of the carefree domestic life into the cold blooded wilds of Halibut Point.