Rare ray of sunshine: Australia’s first clouded leopard cub born at Sydney’s Wild Cat Conservation Centre

Mirri - an Aboriginal word representing ‘the sun’ - is a fitting name for the first clouded leopard to be born in Australia and one of less than 10,000 of her kind left in the world.

Exclusive: Mirri - an Aboriginal word representing ‘the sun’ - is a fitting name for the first clouded leopard to be born in Australia.

The rare and precious cub arrived three weeks ago in the searing summer heat, on a 43 degree day at Sydney’s Wild Cat Conservation Centre.

Fitting neatly into the palm of centre director Ben Britton’s hand, the 180-gram leopard’s birth is of significance nationally, and internationally, with under 10,000 of her kind left in the wild in the world.

Clouded leopards get their name from the cloud-like markings on their body - which act as the perfect camouflage in their natural forest habitat in south-east Asia. It’s a long way from Wilberforce, in the Hawkesbury valley, which makes Mirri’s arrival so special.

Mirri is the first clouded leopard to be born in Australia. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

Mirri’s birth is of significance nationally, and internationally, with under 10,000 of her kind left in the wild in the world. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

And it’s been no easy feat for Mr Britton, who’s spent just over a decade building a sanctuary for the “forgotten cats” - small cat breeds including clouded leopards, cheetahs, servals, caracals and fishing cats.

Yet there are rewards aplenty.

“I was sitting with her last night, and I put her on my chest to burb her after feeding,” he tells the Sunday Telegraph.

“She could hear my heart beat, and I’m pretty hairy like her mum, and she just curled up and went to sleep.

Mirri is the first clouded leopard to be born in Australia. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

“It’s a tough job we do here - it’s 24/7 - but it’s moments like that that remind you of the reason you do it - when you’re holding such precious life in your hands.”

Hand rearing a baby leopard is a full-time job - Mirri needs feeding every two hours, she needs to be gently burped, toileted and cleaned.

In a perfect world her mother, six-year-old Moana, would have taken care of her young - yet clouded leopards aren’t known for their maternal instincts.

“We design and create naturalistic habitats here, with insulated dens and nest boxes, to provide the best opportunity for cats to raise their own cubs,” Britton said.

“It was a Monday afternoon in late November when we noticed that Moana was showing signs she was ready to give birth.

Ben and Kahlia Britton from the Wild Cat Conservation Centre are hand rearing newborn Mirri. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

“We watched her through cameras all evening - Mirri was born breech, her tail came out first and we knew she was alive because it was wiggling. And for 15 agonising minutes we had to watch as Moana struggled to birth her.

“These leopards are very secretive and while we have built good relationships with them, at that moment we couldn’t interfere as it would have put a lot of stress on mum and she could have injured her cub.”

Fortunately Mirri was born alive, yet weak. Her mother cleaned her up but after six hours - with no suckling - Moana left the nest box, and Mr Britton’s team had to act.

The little cub has responded to their care and is reaching her milestones - at two weeks, her perfectly rounded ears popped up, soon after she opened her big blue eyes and now she’s taking her first, stumbly, steps.

“There’s no other clouded leopards in Australia - other institutions have had them in the past but they’re quite a shy cat and so they don’t display well - which is the focus of most zoos,” he said.

Kahlia Britton from the Wild Cat Conservation Centre said Mirri was born alive, yet weak. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

“Our focus is more on conservation - it’s animals first, humans second - so we started the process of importing founding animals from overseas.”

The Sydney centre partnered with established cloud leopard programs in Europe and the US, and in early 2020 two pairs of leopards were on their way. Tai and Cinta, a sibling pair, soon arrived - yet Covid delayed the importation of bonded pair Mark and Moana from Pittsburgh Zoo until 2022.

For the past two years, the team has eagerly awaited Moana’s pregnancy - and finally at the start of November it was confirmed, with an ultrasound revealing little Mirri was already 70 days old - she was born at 93 days.

“She’s the first ever clouded leopard to be bred in Australia, only a handful were bred in the world this year, which makes her so important for the conservation of the species,” Mr Britton said.

“Five years ago our goal was to establish a clouded leopard breeding program, but we didn’t know if it would be possible, so to have her here seems quite surreal.”

Mirri is being hand reared at Wild Cat Conservation Centre. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

Hand rearing Mirri is a 24/7 job. Picture: Gregg Porteous.

Last year, Mr Britton ticked another item off his conservation bucket list, when he released a cheetah cub born in captivity in Australia back into the wilds of Africa. Six months on, Edie is living her best life at Mziki Private Game Reserve, near Johannesburg.

Mirri too is destined for adventure, with planning already underway for her future.

“She’s such a rare and invaluable cub and as part of the international partnership we have with the breeding programs in Europe and the US, we’ve been looking at her genetics, and deciding where she will go, and what male she can be paired with,” Mr Britton said.

“In a few weeks time we’ll know what her future holds, and in around 12 months time she’ll make the journey overseas.”

Until then, Sydneysiders are invited to come and see Mirri, who’ll be on display in the cub nursery in the new year. From there she’ll spend time in an adjacent habitat to the other clouded leopards.

“We often put human emotions on animals - but Mark and Moana won’t recognise her as their cub,” Mr Brittton said.

“Mark stuck his head in the nesting box a couple times while Moana was birthing and she growled at him, so he went and laid in the yard and fell asleep, nonplussed.

“Moana came back and poked around in the box the day after she left her cub but then went on her way - in nature mothers lose cubs quite often to predators so they learn to adapt.

“But it’s important once Mirri is a little older and her immunity kicks in, for her to develop outdoors, to see how the other animals communicate with each other, and to understand that she is a clouded leopard.”

The Wild Cat Conservation Centre is not government-funded, instead relying on support from donors, companies and passionate individuals who are interested in saving wild cats from extinction. To donate visit wildcatcentre.org.au