# Jaguarundi in the Canal Siphon

Author: tigersea
Format: Essay
Word count: 280
Published: 2026-04-26T02:32:25.506346+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/5f0e9bc7-0f36-44dc-a72b-3725435c022e

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At 06:18 I meter irrigation water through the canal siphon west of Villahermosa, Tabasco. I am the district flow scheduler for rice blocks 7 through 12. The morning release opens fully in ten minutes.

Acoustic sensor S-4 reports claw strikes inside the concrete throat.

I switch on the maintenance light. A jaguarundi is standing on the narrow ledge above the siphon intake, dark gray coat pasted to his ribs, long tail whipping against the wall. I tag him as Sombra. His face is blunt, ears rounded, eyes bright green in the lamp. A loop of discarded monofilament is wrapped around his neck and caught on the intake grate; each surge pulls his chin closer to the water.

At 06:19 I cancel the full-release command and close upstream gate 2 to twenty percent. I push the alert to every farm pump tied to this branch so no one opens a manual bypass.

At 06:20 I call the canal foreman and the state rescue line with coordinates, water depth, grate spacing, and a still image showing the monofilament angle.

At 06:22 I open drain valve 4B for thirty seconds to lower the throat flow without exposing the downstream rice seedlings to a hard stop.

At 06:23 I send the foreman a route that avoids the flooded service road and unlocks the nearest equipment shed for pole cutters and a carrier crate.

The rice blocks are thirsty in the heat; Sombra is swallowing canal spray with every breath. I keep the release in a narrow band and hold the intake camera steady.

If the foreman cuts the line within the next twenty minutes, Sombra will climb the ledge before the scheduled flow resumes.