Nearly three weeks ago, a fisherman in Kandal province’s Kien Svay district happened upon a new-born litter of leopards, apparently stranded by flooding in the area.

Two of the three baby leopards, both one-month-old females, now reside in a small bird cage at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre.

They are being hand-fed with plastic syringes by their new caretaker, Sar Roeun, who told the Post  one of the leopards had died on Sunday.

The two remaining sisters spend most of the day sleeping in a dark room at the centre.

Every night, Sar Roeun takes the leopards home, where he attempts to feed them every three hours.

“It is very difficult to feed them, because they are so young,” he said.

Nhek Ratanak Pich, chief of the rescue centre, said it would take the leopards, who arrived at the centre on October 12, about three months until they could eat meat by themselves.

Once old enough to care for themselves, the two would be placed in captivity with other leopards at the Phnom Tamao Zoo, he said.