My mother-in-law went up the mountain to pick up a "wild cat" as a pet. After half a year, she found that it was a national second-class protected animal.

On June 22, in Caijin Town, Wutongqiao District, Leshan City, Sichuan Province, villager Grandma Yang handed over the "pet" she had carefully raised for more than half a year to the staff of the local Natural Resources Bureau. More than half a year ago, Grandma Yang found a "wild cat" on the mountain and immediately took it home as a pet to raise. Unexpectedly, this "wild cat" turned out to be a national second-class protected animal - the leopard cat.

In October last year, Grandma Yang went up the mountain to pick cockfighting mushrooms, and accidentally found a young "wild cat" on the way. Since Grandma Yang has always liked small animals and had some experience in keeping them, she decided to take them home. "At that time, this little 'wild cat' had not even opened its eyes completely." Grandma Yang said that she felt a little distressed and was afraid that it would starve to death or freeze to death on the mountain.

According to Grandma Yang, when she first brought it home, this little "wild cat" would not take the initiative to eat. She fed milk for more than two months and watched the little "wild cat" grow up day by day. However, Grandma Yang later found that her walking posture was different from other cats, and her patterns became more and more obvious, unlike an ordinary cat.

It was not until a few days ago that a relative of Grandma Yang helped take photos of the "wild cat" and asked professionals that she discovered that the "pet wild cat" that Grandma Yang had raised for more than half a year should be the national second-class protected animal - the leopard cat. It has been included in the "Chinese Endangered Animals Red Book" and is a vulnerable species.

After receiving the report from the villagers, Yu Pingzhen, the head of the Linzheng Division of the Wutongqiao District Natural Resources Bureau, led a team to the scene as soon as possible to confirm that the animal was an oleet cat, and quickly completed the situation investigation and the handover of the protected animals.

According to Yu Pingzhen, this adult leopard cat weighs about 10 kilograms and has a total length of 60 to 70 cm. When strangers get close to each other, they will make waves of "wailing and roaring" sounds from time to time, which has a considerable sense of attack. Ocelots mainly live in mountainous forest areas, suburban shrubs and forest villages. As the main distribution area of ​​this species, it has been found from time to time in the past two years in Wutongqiao District, located in southwestern Sichuan.

Because Grandma Yang usually feeds this leopard cat like a domestic cat, and feeds it regularly, the leopard cat lacks the ability to feed independently. At present, the leopard cat has been safely transferred to the Leshan Wildlife Rescue Station.