Road kill turns out to be leopard cat
Published on: Wednesday, January 29, 2020
By: Clarence Dol
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RANAU: An animal lover here stumbled upon a dead leopard cat believed to have been hit by a car in Kg Kilimu here recently.
Helvin Ribus, was driving back home from a jog at about 8am last Saturday when he spotted the feline species lying unconscious on the grassy area by the roadside.
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“Looking at the carcass, there seemed to be no outward injury, so probably it died due to internal bleeding,” he said.
Senior Wildlife Ranger Melvin Amandus was contacted and after pictures of the animal was sent to him, it was confirmed that the leopard cat was a species known as the Felis Bengalensis.
Sources said, the leopard cat is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast and East Asia, where since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range.
“This type of leopard cat or ‘kucing batu’ as it’s known locally, still has a sizeable population across the state. It is the size of a normal house cat and that’s why people tend to be attracted to keep it as pets.
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“However it is still against the law to be in possession of this specie where one of the reason being that it could never be completely tamed. Maybe only 70 per cent tamed at the most.
“This type is carnivorous and among their favorite foods are mice and rats. This one could have went out of the forest area in search for rodents that are currently found abundant due to the padi planting season in the area,” he said.
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