Aw, What a Cute Little....Leopard? Wait, What?

Neosho, Mo.- Biologists said a big black cat killed by a sheriff's deputy is a
leopard. Newton County Sheriff's Corp. Donn hall shot the animal when it charged at him on May 19. A woman had reported a cat was scratching at the door of her home near Neosho.- Boston Herald

How the HELL do you confuse a "cat scratching on your door" with a friggin leopard? They get up to three feet tall!