oh farmer kay?!??? what's a jaguarundi ?

evenin' Deb...

a jaguarundi is a small wildcat, like a puma:

http://www.travel-album.com/vacaSEAN...31/sdh7jr.html

they're about twice the size of a housecat, and love chicken dinners.

they weigh about 10 to 20 pounds:

http://ambergriscaye.com/critters/jaguarundi.html

Now that's a cat i've not heard of ... my father raised "big" cats ... samson and tillie ... jaguar, satin lee and princess ... black panther, ivan and annie ... bengal tigar, oliver and olivette ... lion and lioness, charles and diana ... cougar (mountain lion) and a snow leapard whos name i have forgotten .... i have pictures somewhere in a box in the garage of my boys riding oliver and olivette ... no need for an alarm system at his house either ... first fence says no tresspassing ... beware of cats ... this lead onto property and through the 10 acres where the cattle roamed .... second fence says do not enter and BEWARE OF CATS .... this lead into the second area where the feed barn, the garage for the tractor and boat was stored, about the size of a block ... just inside the third fence (which leads into our yard and to the house) dad had a sign posted which read "i told you beware of cats" ... if you made it to this point without a family member coming outside you would find 2 very big cats staring at you ... one usually would jump on the hood of the car and the other would be either in the driver seat or standing beside the door ... each fence you have to get out and open ... no electrical help there ... you can imagine the shock at finding out that beware of cat was an actual warning sign and not some humorous joke ... was funny though to see peoples faces ....

WOW, that's so interesting, Deb !!

jaguars, black panthers, Bengal tigers, cougars, and lions ??

again, I say WOW !!

what we have here in Belize are five different wildcats, the Jaguarundi, the Jaguar, the Ocelot, the Margay, and the Puma:

http://www.belizezoo.org/zoo/zoo/mammal.html

that's why our perimeter is so sturdy, and the nursery wall fences extend deep underground, and it's roofed over with double and triple fencing (hog panels, chicken wire, and cage fencing around the base).

still smiling over your dad naming wildcats Charles and Diana... but,,, shouldn't Sampson's mate be Delilah?

:D

how did your father acquire such an interesting menagerie?

that'll teach people to leave their car doors OPEN while they go do the gates, lol!

yes, we have a big wrought iron gate that must be opened manually at the entrance... but there's no electronics here because they would just CROAK in a few months, because of all the rain and humidity.

:D :hug: :D

I think the Margay is very cute!

tillie was the first cat that they got and mom named her ... that got samson 2 years later from a circus that was going to put him down ... he was only 3 years old ... they said he was not trainable ... dad had him doing basic commands within 6 months ... figured that they just didn't want to take the time to love the animal ... so he was already named when we got him ....

dad was a doctor with several fields of expertise ... general practice, psychiatrist, obgyn, he had more letters after his name than i have ever seen ... over achiever to the max ...

one of his best friends got into exotic cats when he retired and this was at the time that the actors were all getting big cats as pets ... they were a fashion statement of wealth then ... anyway ... dad fell in love with the big cats and over 7 years he aquired a breaders permit and was breeding for zoos and safaries ... he would also take the cats that were "lost causes" either orphaned and not expected to live or had medical problems which required extra care ....

Olivia !!

Look who's here for breakfast at the pond!

it's the lovely Olivia, my beautiful silver, white and gray duckie...

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...armlife059.jpg

As you can see, little Lady Olivia is starting to get her flight feathers, they're the ones coming in a darker dove gray.

And her head and chest feathers look like they're going to be a gorgeous clear white.

:grouphug:

then I must recommend a GREAT book to you, about a lady here in Belize who rescues animals, especially those used for making films... and built a ZOO to house all of them!

Sharon has a Jaguar named Angel:

Sharon shares her office with a three-legged jaguar named Angel. When the screen door bangs, Angel limps up a cleated ramp that connects the jaguar habitat to the office, a plywood shack on stilts. When she sees Sharon, Angel rolls over and stretches like a dog wanting its belly scratched. Sharon will toss Angel a piece of chicken through the wire fence that separates them. The jaguar catches the meat in her jaws with a clop. Visitors to Sharon's office often ask to pet Angel, which Sharon discourages. "Never pet a jaguar," she once told me, "unless you're willing to feed her your hand."

the book is called The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, and describes Sharon Matola's fight to stop the Chalillo Dam, which would wipe out one of the last populations of these beautiful birds in Belize.... here's the first chapter, to get you started:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/bo...pagewanted=all

:hug: :grouphug: :hug:

You've taken over his territory....The least you could do is feed him a chicken dinner, once in awhile..:D

oh, I don't begrudge an occasional chicken now and then, but when the *&%$* tried to drag off my PRIZE mother goose, I got a little bit peeved.

and when a jaguarundi took my favorite duck Mocha, I cried.

on the other hand, I didn't mind much at ALL, when the evil rooster Tyrone The Terrorist got snatched.

these are just the risks we take, allowing our birds to free-range.

but hey, the birds are a LOT happier when they're free to roam.

:cool:;):cool: