Holiday snaps, timeless reminders of your getaways… there’s the feet at the beach pic, the leaning against the tower in Pisa and now grinning with a dead rare leopard… what the hell is wrong with people?!
A group of tourists can be seen gurning in laughter as they hold the corpse of an endangered clouded leopard in Tampin, Malaysia.
The pics were shared on social media by ‘Max Mantra’ who said they were taken in the western state of Negeri Sembilan. The account has reportedly been taken down.
Facebook user Siva Nadarajan managed to take screenshots of the sickening photos which he posted to a hiking group he is a member of.
The Neofelis nebulosa is considered a vulnerable species at high risk of extinction to the wild. It is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with a population of only 10,000 and rapidly decreasing thought to exist.
The men in blue uniforms are reportedly members of the Malaysian Civil Defence Force.
According to National Geographic:
This beautiful Asian cat, named for its spotted coat, is seldom seen in the wild, and its habits remain a bit mysterious. Clouded leopards roam the hunting grounds of Asia from the rain forests of Indonesia to the foothills of the Nepali Himalayas.
Though clouded leopards are great climbers, scientists believe that they do most of their hunting on the ground, feasting on deer, pigs, monkeys, and smaller fare such as squirrels or birds. They are aided in their hunting by the largest canine teeth (proportionate to body size) of any wild cat.
Scientists are not sure exactly how clouded leopards act in the wild. They are probably solitary animals, like most cats. Females give birth to a litter of one to five cubs every year, and the young leopards remain dependent upon their mother for about ten months.
Nadarjan said in his Facebook post that he tried to contact the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia about the incident.
However, he claims the government organisation told him ‘everyone has gone home’ and he could not make the complaint.
The story has appeared on Twitter where people have been showing their dismay at the shocking images.
One person wrote:
Hopefully they will be found and taught a lesson. Maybe don’t know better but it’s time they learn not to hurt and destroy these rare amazing gorgeous animals. How sad this is. How could they do this and smile and think it is ok. What a loss.
Another added:
Savage wicked people got no feelings for animal life. I can’t tell what I would like to do to them
This is a whole new level of assholery towards wildlife.
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Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated with a BA Journalism from University College Falmouth before most his colleagues were born. A previous editor of adult mags, he now enjoys bringing the tone down in the viral news sector.