How often is it that you see a stray animal and want to take it home with you? Well this family in Thailand found a kitten in the middle of the street which was situated in front of their house and decided to take it in. The kitten looked pretty much like any other stray animal but after further investigation, experts agree that this kitten is far from normal.
When the family looked at the kitten closely, they realized that this may not be a regular young cat.
They immediately called the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) in order to get some answers
When the rescue team arrived, they were surprised to see the kitten. It was actually a species of Prionailurus viverrinus or better known as a fishing cat. It is a species of wild cat found in Southeast Asia.
It also looked like the kitten was only a few hours old
“We were rather suspicious as to why the kitten had been found without its mother,” wrote WFFT on Facebook page on December 9
The rescue team then questioned the family that found the kitten to try and figure out why it was found alone on the road. It turned out that a few years ago, this family had seen a fishing cat in the paddy fields. They looked after the cat until it reached maturoty and then proceeded to release it.
“They told us that the mother fishing cat on occasion will return to the house she was raised for a visit,” WFFT added
One day, the family saw the mother cat close to their home. Apparently, she had just given birth to a litter of kittens and then she decided to move them to a different location.
While moving the kittens she had accidentally dropped this particular one on the road she had to cross to move them to a different location
“Shortly after finding the kitten they left him in a box for a few hours to see if the mother would return and collect him, unfortunately the mother was not seen again,” wrote WFFT
Rescuers immediately brought the cold and hungry kitten to their hospital in order to feed it and to do a few checkups
At the hospital, a veterinarian there named Aon held on to the rare kitten, which was named Simba, close to her chest so her body heat would keep it warm.
He was put under round the clock care from the WFFT vet team to make sure Simba was progressing well.
He was also placed in a special incubator which creates the perfect environment for him
It is extremely important for Simba to survive because this species of cat is now at a high risk of extinction.
“The Fishing Cat faces a high risk of extinction throughout its range and is thought to be amongst the most vulnerable of the small and medium-sized cats in Southeast Asia,” wrote WFFT
The WFFT team wrote that “Habitat loss and destruction along with the killing of Fishing Cats by local people throughout the species’ range has led to a global population decline suspected to be 30% or more, in the past 15 years”
Unfortunately, despite the intensive care from the WFFT team, Simba did not survive. He died on December 10, 2016, at 3:00 am under the observation of veterinarian Aon.
Photo credits: ©The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand
