Though the number of feline families of wildcat species is high in Nepal, the study’s weight is less regarding the small cats.
One of which is the fishing cat, listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) & ‘Endangered’ in the context of national status of Nepal.
Its number is decreasing at an alarming rate, particularly in Southeast Asia. It has a wide range of distributions in countries. Their appearance is like that of a house cat, but they are bigger and feature two stripes on their cheeks and two more above their eyes that extend across the forehead.
In Nepal, the fishing cat is primarily distributed in the lowland Terai (300m) & only about 4.4% of Nepal is found to be potential fishing cat habitat, with the majority of “potentially suitable habitat” outside the protected areas (Mishra et al., 2022).
Though in recent years the fishing cat has received considerable attention in research and conservation efforts within Nepal's protected areas, places like Nawalpur, which provide great habitat for the species, have remained untouched.
The Study should also be focused on this place where species have been detected previously as opportunistic sightings from studies focused on other species. Also, frequent reporting of loss of fish from different wetland community fishing ponds needs serious attention as fish is one of the major diets of the fishing cat.
Apart from this, the habitat of the fishing cat, i.e., wetlands, is degrading faster than ever before, lacking attention from stakeholders. And the degradation of these wetlands not only affects the Fishing cat presence but the entire wetland ecosystem.
The lack of data-based evidence about the fishing cat in Nawalpur has limited the effective conservation-related policy of the species. For the collaborative conservation of this species, support from the community, government, and INGOs/NGOs is necessary.
A community-based conservation must be prioritized for the sustainable supervision of these activities.
- Aashish Pokhrel
Undergraduate, Institute of Forestry
