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Endangered Fishing Cat spotted & rescued from a village in Karimganj
May 23: A week after yellow coloured frogs were spotted in Karimganj, another endangered species of animal was found in the same district. A fishing cat (Felis viverrina) was observed in Saidpur, Batai village under Baraigram area of Patherkandi in Karimganj district which is adjacent to Patheria Hill Reserve Forest on 22 May, 2021. The fishing cat is an important member of cat family. It is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia.
The animal was creating disturbance since last few days and had been consuming domestic livestock. A day before, it had killed one goat, besides many domestic hens and ducks. Locals spotted the fishing cat loitering in an agricultural field in the patta land of one, Maziruddin Barbhuiyan located near Patheria range on 22 May. When the report came in, Patheria Range Officer, Debjyoti Nath rushed to the spot and took initiative to rescue it. On Sunday, it was released in the forest region.
Prof. Parthankar Choudhury- former Head, Department of Ecology & Environment Science, Assam University informed that the fishing cat since 2016 has been listed as endangered by IUCN. He further informed that in undivided Cachar, this species was reported from Sonbeel area and one such fishing cat was sent to Guwahati Zoo from there.
It is distributed all over the region in the vicinity of well-watered localities. Overall, it is rare. It is relatively more abundant in the plains. Some key protected areas for the species are D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary and Talle Wildlife Sanctuary (all in Arunachal Pradesh), Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Laokhowa and Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuaries (all in Assam). Apart from India, the Fishing Cat occurs from Pakistan and Sri Lanka to Vietnam and south to Java.
Prof. Parthankar Choudhury informed that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) treated the fishing cat as Endangered and The Wild Life (Protection) Act of India listed it in Schedule I. Conservationists of the area have expressed delight that this endangered species has been for the first time reported from Patheria range of Barak Valley.
