SYANGJA: The children of Waling-1, Rambachha were shocked to realize that the ‘cat’ they found in the suburb was actually a Charibagh (leopard cat).

The children of Rambachha were surprised to know that the ‘cat’ they had taken home  to make a ‘pet’ was actually a leopard cat.

The children who had gone to play in the suburb took pity on the small ‘cat’ they found ‘abandoned’ in the suburb of Rambachha and brought it home to rear it as a pet cat.

But when the family found the animal behaving differently than the ordinary cat, they informed Mohan Regmi, the Member of Provincial Parliament. To everyone’s surprise, the ‘cat’ roared like a tiger.

MP Regmi called Komal Raj Kafle, the Chief of Division Forest Office Syangja who confirmed that the animal was surely not a cat.

“When I looked at various organs of the animal, I concluded it could not be a cat,” Kafle said, “besides it snored and roared like a cat.”

Leopard cat locally known as Charibagh belongs to the CITES’ list of endangered animal.

“It could have come out of its habitat in search of its parents,” Kafle added.

The cub has started enjoying milk, rice and the chicken meat.

“We will rear the animal in cub for some more days and once it becomes bigger, we will either release it in the jungle or hand over to the Pachbhaiya, Kaski based animal rescue center once the lockdown is over,” Division Office Chief Kafle shared his plan.