Tweeters:

Sorry for creating such a fuss. Imagine, getting Michael Price and Jerry
Converse to agree, though!

Thanks to everyone who responded with suggestions as to what bird could take a
cat at night. Many suggestions about the Great Horned Owl, usually because
they take rabbits, opossums, skunks, and similarly sized mammals. Nobody
suggested a Barred Owl could take a cat, though, which I thought somewhat
surprising after noticing in the Peterson CD that they will take rabbits.
Given the Barred Owl seems to be expanding its range, combined with the fact
that cats disappeared for the first time in at least a decade, is it possible
that a Barred Owl may have finally made it to Vashon Island?

In defense of my father-in-law, he lives on more than ten acres and has no
significant road nearby (his driveway is off an unimproved private road), so
there is virtually no chance the cat was run over by a car. He has had
several cats over the last 25 years, all living more than ten years (until
this last month), so the cats do not seem to be at risk of acquiring and dying
from parasitical diseases. The cats do not seem to affect the number of birds
around (lots of Juncos, chickadee's, usual suspects, etc., a Pileated
Woodpecker is a steady visitor, may even nest there) and have not been seen
with a dead bird. Lastly, he has had one or two horses for that time, and the
cats do a much better job of keeping rats away from the barn, frequently being
seen with that prey.

Eric Stahlfeld
Burien, WA