PORT ANGELES — A pet bobcat that disappeared from a Black Diamond-area home last month is still missing, but its owners haven’t given up hope.

“We are still searching,” Cherie Lemon said Wednesday.

The Lemons’ large bobcat, Darby, disappeared from the dog run outside their home April 11 while Lemon, a hairdresser, was styling a friend’s hair inside. The line the cat was attached to had broken.

The 9-year-old feline, a brown cat with black spots which weighed about 20 pounds more than an average wild bobcat when he went missing, had never made a lengthy journey from the house before.

The Lemons have used search dogs, posted fliers and published classified ads in the Peninsula Daily News seeking information about Darby.

Phone calls

Cherie Lemon said they are still fielding phone calls and following leads each time someone spots a bobcat.

Lemon said she and her husband now believe someone might have abducted Darby from their yard.

They are offering a “generous” reward for anyone who returns the cat to them, she said.

Darby is probably one of only a handful of “exotic” pets kept in captivity on the North Olympic Peninsula, and most of those are bobcats, state Department of Fish and Wildlife agents estimate.

Bobcats do live in the wild on the Peninsula, but unlike those cats, Darby is declawed and was “a butterball” when he was last at home, Lemon said.

Anyone with information about the cat can contact the Lemons at 360-452-4855 or 360-477-0917.