Discovery of a Leopard Cat
roadkill in Singapore
Mandai Road, 15th June 2001
I receive a
babbling voicemail I am away at a
meeting and check my voicemail. Imagine my horror as I
listen to an excited Charith describe leaving behind the
body off a freshly-killed leopard cat along Mandai Road! My
brain races to organise the troops for collection and to
start making phone calls to the relevant ENV department to
prevent the disposal off the body (I have previously lost a
dugong and pangolin carcass to them). I also imagine
pounding Charith's head agains the door as I then check my
SMS'. To my relief, one from him says "found a leopard cat
on the Mandai road exit - we've collected it for you - give
me a call" The chance
encounter - Charith & the roadkill ---------- ... Ok so
this is how we found the leopard cat - at 6:30am we
(my camera crew and myself) were travelling along
the BKE [Bukit Timah Expressway], headed
towards Sungei Buloh for an early morning
shoot. On the
Mandai Road exit, we passed what seemed to be a
sizeable spotted animal lying on the road (by the
signpost for the zoo). With my
usual delayed reaction, decided to go and take a
look after we were on Mandai Road, so parked our
vehicle at the nearest bus stop and ran like mad
back along the exit road - and yes, it was a
Leopard Cat - have been reading enough about them
over the last few months to recognise one.
Well, like
good journalists we filmed the animal as it was,
without moving it from the road. Rang up Siva from
the Raffles Museum and left directions on his
voice-mail, so that they could come and collect it
later. Fortunately,
I then rememberd that I was dealing with Siva and
that he would have killed me if we had just left
the cat there - so we brought it back to the Museum
later that morning. When
handling the animal there was no stiffness in the
body -perhaps signs of a relatively recent death.
The animal was also noticeably heavier than a
domestic cat - about the same as a small toy dog,
like a cocker spaniel or a terrier. ____________ Preserving
the specimen at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
(RMBR) Notes on the
Leopard Cat Leopard Cat,
male. Specimen deposited in
RMBR, same day, put into freezer. 13th July 2001 -
whole specimen fixed in formalin, will be transferred to
alcohol later. Stomach contents and digestive tract were
preserved in formalin; internal organs in alcohol. Specimen
had very little fat, no evident physical injuries to
internal organs. Lea Wee prepares story the same day,
appears in The Sunday Times, 22nd July 2001.
From: Charith Pelpola
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 17:04:24 +0800
To: "Otterman Empire"
<sivasothi@email.com>
Hi Siva -
Charith Pelpola
The Moving Visuals Co.
http://www.movingvisuals.com
Head smashed in, otherwise animal in good condition.
coll. Charith Pelpola, 11th June 2001
Mandai Road, west exit from Bukit Timah Expressway, by a
signpost to the zoo.