On the night of the 30th day of the Lunar New Year (February 9, 2024), a tiny leopard cat was rescued. It had just opened its eyes and bore a wound on its abdomen caused by a lawnmower blade.

Previously, while visiting graves and cutting grass around the grave in Thach Quang commune, Thach Thanh district (Thanh Hoa), a local resident accidentally discovered two tiny leopard cats. Both were injured by a lawn mower blade. Unfortunately, one was so badly injured that it did not survive. The other was luckier, with only a minor injury to its belly – that was Mừng.

The local resident took Mừng home to take care of him temporarily, then contacted the Thach Thanh District Forest Protection Department to hand him over to the authorities. On the night of the 30th of Tet, just a few hours before the new year, the Forest Protection Department coordinated with the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program to receive and transfer this individual. Because of that special event, we named the baby “Mừng”, meaning to celebrate the new year, celebrate life.

In the early days, our care team and veterinarians raised Mừng entirely with milk. Every 2-3 hours, day and night, the staff took turns feeding the baby, persistently caring for him for the first two months.

Although Mừng was later transferred to a semi-wild area to restore his instincts, he still maintained the habit of being close to humans. Therefore, we decided to keep Mừng at the Center for long-term care. Now, he has become an “educational ambassador”, sharing his story with visitors, contributing to raising awareness about wild cat conservation in particular and wildlife conservation in general

When you sponsor Mừng for a year, you are helping to save leopard cats – one of the endangered animals in Vietnam.