Rescue the cutest Leopard cat

By Rohit Singh

Leopard cat, Photo by Rohit

It was early morning, things were as usual and I was leaving for office when I received a call from a community member living near the Mondulkiri Protected Forest. This forest area is part of the larger protected area complex of the Eastern Plains Landscape and one of the best wildlife sites in Cambodia. The caller is my usual informant who helps us in gathering valuable intelligence on wildlife poaching. He informed me that the villagers have seen a baby cat what looks like a leopard cub in the farm. The landscape supports approximately 4 leopards/100 km2, so the possibility of a leopard cub cannot be completely ruled out.  However the chances were very low. I decided to go to the village and see for myself.

I left the town with my team to the village. After driving approximately 40 km on dusty roads we arrived at the ranger station. The ranger station is the entry point to the Mondulkiri Protected Forest, my informant was already waiting there. He took us to the farm where the animal was seen. It was one & half kilometer walk in cassava plantation and we could see the forest all along the boundary of plantation.  On the way many villagers joined us, there were kids, old men, women and young men, all were looking forward to see the leopard cub. Some were even saying it’s a tiger cub. At-last we arrive to the farm where the cub was sighted for the first time, there was a small bush at the corner of the farm. I requested villagers to stay far from the area because I didn’t want to cause any stress to the animal.  We could hear the call of the kitten so it was definitely some cat species.  I went into the bush and saw a small and one of the cutest animals I have ever rescued. It was a baby leopard cat.

I lifted her in my arms and started walking back towards the village. All of the villagers were so excited they wanted to have glance of the animal we rescued. Everyone who saw her said only one word “Saat Nas (means most beautiful and cutest)” at that moment, we decided to give her the name Saat, we took her to the ranger station. She was so cute that every ranger wanted to hold her and have a photo with her, some took out their cell phones and started taking pictures. Saat didn’t like this celebrity treatment and gave an unpleasant expression; she was hardly one month old but clearly had enough wild traits.

We didn’t have anything to feed her at the ranger station so we gave her some water and brought her to the town. For two days I took care of her and was with me all the time. We fed her with milk and baby food. We knew that she was too small to be released back into the wild and we didn’t have any facility to keep her in therefore we decided to move her to the rescue center in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. It was a long 350 km journey, so we decided to take her to the mid-point from where the national wildlife rapid rescue team (WRRT) can take her and bring to rescue center. WRRT has better knowledge and equipment to deal with handling of wild animals. Next day we left to the Snoul 150 km from the provincial town of Mondulkiri. We handed Saat to WWRT teams. It was an emotional moment as I had spent three days with her.

Leopard cat facts: Common name: Leopard cat Scientific name: Prionailurus bengalensis IUCN Status: Least Concern Threat to the survival: Poaching Distribution: Afghanistan; Bangladesh; Bhutan; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; China; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia (Jawa, Kalimantan, Sumatera); Japan (Nansei-shoto); Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Myanmar; Nepal; Pakistan; Philippines; Russian Federation; Singapore; Taiwan, Province of China; Thailand; Viet Nam Source: IUCN website

After six months I got an opportunity to visit the rescue center and first thing I did there was looked for Saat. The zoo keeper took me to the enclosure where they had many leopard cats, I asked which one is Saat. He said he is not sure. I was bit depressed but when I saw closely all were like Saat, as beautiful as Saat.

After the rescue of Saat, we rescued several leopard cat babies and other animals but the lesson I learned from Saat’s rescue will always remain with me.

Thanks to Mr. Rohit Sign

Law Enforcement Technical Adviser (WWF-Cambodia)