Endangered wildcat kitten put down by mistake

An injured leopard cat kitten was euthanized at an animal shelter in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, after staff mistook the animal to be a domestic cat.

While the shelter and the veterinarian have claimed that there was little that could be done to have helped the animal, a number of issues with the handling of the situation has been raised.

Leopard cats are listed as class II endangered wildlife, which means they are threatened with imminent extinction, and have been protected by the Ministry of Environment since 1998.

The animal shelter mistook the animal for a stray cat and euthanized it on Wednesday, according to the Korea Animal Welfare Information System. But it was a leopard cat kitten thought to be less than 60 days old. The animal was found on a road on the previous day, with serious injuries from a traffic accident.

The first reporter mistook the animal to be a domestic cat and requested rescue to the animal shelter in Taebaek. The animal was then taken to a nearby veterinarian, where it was put down the following day.

Under local regulations, injured endangered wildlife should be transported to a designated wildlife rescue center or a veterinarian designated by Ministry of Environment for treatment. In addition, putting down an endangered animal without authorization is subject to punishment.

The shelter stated they were unaware that the animal was a leopard cat because it was called a cat by the first caller. The animal hospital where the leopard cat was treated and euthanized, also misidentified it as a cat. The veterinarian reportedly recommended euthanizing the animal to alleviate its suffering, because it was already suffering necrosis so severe that it was filled with maggots.

"In order to minimize suffering, euthanasia was carried out based on the veterinarian’s assessment,” the official of the shelter told local media, explaining that the animal had irreparable fractures from the waist down, and tissue death had affected major organs.

The shelter further stated, “It was impossible to transfer the animal to a wildlife rescue center since it was severely injured. Its situation had no leeway, as it could potentially die during the transportation process.”

In reality, the nearest rescue center was located about 200-kilometer away from the scene of the accident.