Persecuted

Jaguarundi, Facts and Feelings

Persecuted

Jaguarundi

Photo 📸 @pascalmaranus

This totally real and scary-looking cat is the jaguarundi, which is native to mid-South America through northern Mexico. You have to wonder how someone got one to sit for a studio photo. It is also “persecuted” for eating chickens.

My mother raises chickens and I am fond of them, even if they are a little stupid. If you throw feed at them directly, they think the pellets are incoming missiles and run for their lives. For the winter months, the chickens have a gated and heated shed and wear little jackets my mother has knit for them.

Often misjudged by her sweet nature, my mother is tough as nails. Even so, I can’t see her persecuting a feral cat, even a jaguarundi.

Feeling Persecuted vs. Being Persecuted

Feelings vs. Fact

According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, persecuted means “to treat someone unfairly or cruelly over a long period of time because of their race, religion, or political beliefs, or …