‘A few are afraid of the chicks’: Preparing Thailand’s rescued leopard cats for life in the wild

At a Department of National Parks and Wildlife rescue center in Khon Kaen, staff hand-rear leopard cat cubs on syringe-fed formula before moving them through specialized pens to relearn climbing and hunting ahead of release. The center has taken in between 40 and 65 cubs a year since 2023, up from about 10 annually before, with staff pointing to habitat fragmentation and rising fire activity.

More than 60 cubs arrived between January and August 2026 alone, over half with burn injuries from fields set alight during the January-to-April burning season; 20 of them did not survive, though that marks an improvement from prior years' mortality rates. Veterinarians microchip, blood-test and photograph each cat before it enters rehabilitation, which includes live chicks and mice to sharpen hunting instinct.

Staff deliberately limit human contact during rehabilitation so the cats learn to distrust people, since the goal is to make sure the cubs never need rescuing twice.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.