Collaring of Fishing Cats
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
Environment
- Published
18th Aug, 2020
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- Fishing Cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) are nocturnal (active at night).
- Apart from fish, it also preys on frogs, crustaceans, snakes, birds, and scavenges on carcasses of larger animals.
- In India, fishing cats are mainly found in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, on the foothills of the Himalayas along the Ganga and Brahmaputra river valleys and in the Western Ghats.
- Despite multiple threats, the Fishing Cat was recently down listed to “Vulnerable” from “Endangered” in the IUCN Red List species assessment.
- Fishing cats are listed under CITES: Appendix II and Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
- Shrimp farming is a growing threat to mangrove habitats of the Fishing Cats.
- Wildlife Institute of India (WII-Dehradun) and the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department are has planned for a maiden exercise of collaring 10 fishing cats in the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary.
- The sanctuary is located in the Godavari estuary to study the species’ ecology, home range, and behaviour in different seasons, feeding habits, threats, movements and use of space.
- The project aims to capture the fishing cats and collaring them with light weight equipment containing the Geographical Information System.
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