The Chinese man, Mr Huang, is seen holding what appears to be a cat with very strong markings and weighing about 15-20 pounds, on my estimate. This is a big pet cat it seems to me.
He says he bought the cat at a market in Binyang county in Guangxi province, as a pet. This indicates to me that the cat was stolen in the wild perhaps as a kitten (a cub) for sale in the market. This is not uncommon (trading in small wild cat species as pets). He also says that he killed the cat after a while because it was stealing the family food – charming.
The big discussion in China is what sort of cat is it? Some Chinese people say the cat is the endangered (in China) Asiatic leopard cat but Huang says he/she was a domestic cat. That may be the case, but how domesticated? Living in the home does not mean domesticated. A motivation for saying the cat was a domestic cat is that there may be a penalty for killing an endangered wild cat in China (unlikely but possible).
The coat pattern and markings are not those of a domestic cat. However, the size of this cat (on the face of it) is too large for a leopard cat. The leopard cat’s average weight it about 8 pounds. The heaviest listed of this species in Wild Cats of the World (the best book on the wild cat species) is about 17 pounds.
However, despite the size, my bet is that this is a leopard cat or possibly a hybrid leopard cat and domestic cat (in other words an F1 Bengal cat) based on the very strong markings – we don’t see the facial markings which would have helped a lot.
Although the leopard cat is fiercely independent and completely untameable and impossible to domesticate. Some Americans do keep them in enclosures and a woman in America, Keira Nguyen, kept, as a pet, a first filial leopard cat. She says it was very difficult looking after the cat, which was illegal in the state in which she lived (I have forgotten the state).
I am guessing that by the description (stealing food) that the cat was probably barely living with the family but in and around the family home. I would expect the cat to have been captive actually because if left to roam he/she would probably not have come back.
The fact that Huang appeared to have killed the cat without much compunction also indicates that he was not that close to the cat. This supports the idea that the cat was not domesticated in the conventional sense.
There are other small wild cat species in China which could fit this description: Asiatic golden cat (but too big to be this cat) and the Marbled cat (too small).
I have made a guesstimate. I could well be wrong.
I know that China is a distant country, but this happens elsewhere too.
So, the only solution that this guy (he looks like a kid) could come up with was to kill the cat that he should never have had in the first place. It seems to be more and more acceptable for humans to just eradicate/kill any dilemma causing agent, whether animal or human.
What I hate most of all is what is happening with our children today. Killing seems almost natural to them.
I tremble to think of what would have happened to me had I harmed any animal or, god forbid, threatened a teacher or any other human. It wouldn’t have been good. Being beaten until I bled comes to mind.
Good point Eva. The cat must have been killed shortly before the photo. He’s an absolute sh*t. Total ignorance.
Absolutely! The whole history is bad. Selling what I believe is a wild cat at a market is bad and then the buyer disposed of the cat when it became irritating. The story has the human race stamped all over it.
So he kills the cat who is stealing food because it’s hungry and it shouldn’t have been in captivity anyway. Another example of a human moron.
Disgusting moron.
I would say it’s a wild cat/ Young golden asiatic from the Black Market. It was easy to handle for probably only a few months at best. May even have been a rare type of sub-species.We will never know for sure .
What a shame this ignorant man took this beautiful cat’s life when he could have tried to find him or her a better home. Why do people of this nature end up with something precious that they are allowed and tempted to destroy.
Yes-I am more than a bit angry.It appears that he has just performed a clean kill on this cat right before the proud photo_? Anyone else see this ?