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The female cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), which weighs 1.8 kg and is 30 cm long, has yellow fur with black rosettes similar to a leopard’s.
Nguyen Van Diep, 45, of Thu Duc City, said his chickens had been disappearing for a month and a half and so he set up a trap and caught the cat.
"When I learned that it was an endangered species, I called forest rangers so the cat could be returned to the wild."
Rangers said the leopard cat is classified as an endangered species in Vietnam though internationally it is listed as of "Least Concern" by the IUCN.
Leopard cat populations are declining in the wild in Vietnam as people keep them as pets for their fur.
Video footage of a leopard cat caught in HCMC. Video courtesy of the HCMC Forest Protection Department
