This is a little snippet of an American cat story. You would never see a story like this in the UK or even Europe. “Pets” were going missing in Indiana. A couple were concerned that their cats would be attacked and killed so they were watching over their backyard. They were prepared to see a bobcat, a medium sized wild cat that is found across the United States. That is what they were told could be attacking local “pets”.
As it happens a large animal did turn up and without any delay the boyfriend of the woman who kept cats shot it. I am not sure he knew what he was shooting at. Shoot first, ask later seems to be the motto.
Anyway the large animal was a leopard. He shot the leopard dead. So we have a leopard roaming around Indiana eating pets including cats who was shot by a human. Quite a neat chain of killing events.
The leopard does not live in the wild in the USA. It was probably bred in a zoo somewhere or imported from Asia perhaps, who knows. Perhaps the leopard was in someone’s private zoo and escaped or was freed. In fact it was reported that the physical state of the leopard (declawed?) indicated that it was a “pet”. Large, semi-domesticated wild cat species are not uncommonly kept as pets in the USA. A sorry tale of cats and killing. As usual, the cats come off worst.
The leopard shouldn’t have been where it was. A person put the leopard into that situation, which was almost bound to end up as it did, with the potential dangers from a leopard and the number of guns in the USA.
Agreed. It is a sorry tale of killing cats and the situation is created by people, which is what I find sad. The leopard did not need to have been shot. The cats could have been kept in and the leopard trapped and then taken to a decent zoo. Trigger happy shooters at work again.
I find the whole story so typical of the mess people can create with cats. That is why I wrote about it. It is based on killing.
I think the leopard can be scared off. They are not that large. Minimum weight of about 64 pounds. The one in the video does not look that large. Possibly a female. I don’t believe one has to shoot wild cat species this size. It the same as the cougar and they tend to get shot rather recklessly.
Exactly – that poor leopard hard a sorry sad life no doubt – about the only decent part was probably the last part where he was roaming free and hunting for himself. Poor thing. So sad. If they were my cats being threatened by a leopard and I didn’t have the time to bring them inside and I had a gun I might try and scare it away – but I suspect that just by shooting in the air or near the sound would startle the leopard and immediatley make my cats aware of it and run inside. I don’t know but I would want to protect my cats.
The worst person in this story is possibly the person who put the leopard there in the first place ‘probably’ – we don’t know how he got there but Michale’s theories are probably right.
That poor leopard should have been living wild and free, but instead whether it was someone’s pet or had escaped from a zoo, its death and the death of the other cats should be on the conscience of the person who had imprisoned it in the first place.
You are right Michael the leopard shouldn’t have been where it was, it should be a criminal offence to take a wild cat from the wild and it should be a criminal offence also to breed half wild half domestic cats.
It doesn’t bear thinking about those cats ‘owned’ and controlled when all their basic instincts long for the life of freedom they have a right to.
Well said Rudolph. Leopards can survive in urban environments as you say – just. Although in India people tend to want to kill them or use them. I just have this feeling of how irresponsible the human is at several levels, as highlighted by this story.
This could happen only in U.S.A ! There are more pet tigers in U.S.A then in the forests of India .Sad for the animal as keeping “Big Cats” as pets is dangerous to both, the pet owner and also the pet.A leopard unlike a tiger is a “Big Cat” that can easily survive in the midst of human surroundings as they do in the outskirts of Mumbai in the “Sanjay Gandhi National Park”.