<
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/as-thailands-fishing-cats-face-habitat-loss-conflict-experts-seek-resolution/>
"Pacing paw-to-paw, the fishing cat hisses. About twice the size of a domestic
cat, its grey-green eyes fix on the keeper who carries a tub of tilapia on the
other side of the fence. The gate of the enclosure at the Wildlife Friends
Foundation Thailand (WFFT) rescue center in central Thailand’s Phetchaburi
province pops open, and the keeper enters.
The prowling cat switches to a loping canter — moving more like an otter than a
wild cat — as it whips a fish from the tub and takes it to a corner to dine in
privacy. The muscular nape ripples at its powerful jaws make quick work of its
slippery fare.
Fishing cats (
Prionailurus viverrinus) are superbly adapted to living and
hunting in marshes, wetlands and mangroves. Nocturnal hunters, they have an
almost unique affinity for water among felines, sporting partially webbed feet,
a double-layered coat and ears that seal when submerged. But with these
habitats fast disappearing, the species is in trouble.
The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, considers fishing cats
vulnerable to extinction. Fewer than 10,000 individuals are thought to remain
in the wild across their range spanning South and Southeast Asia. Globally,
they face many of the same threats as other wild cat species: habitat loss,
persecution, pollution and genetic problems associated with small and
fragmented populations.
In Thailand, a country perhaps better known for its big cats like tigers and
leopards, fishing cats often fall under the radar. While no one knows exactly
how many individuals remain in the country, what is known is that decades of
coastal wetland conversion for shrimp ponds, mining and other industrial uses
have decimated their numbers.
“There used to be [fishing] cats in eastern Thailand, but we’ve lost those
populations,” says Rattapan Pattanarangsan, conservation program manager at
Panthera Thailand, the global wild cat conservation organization. The total
Thai population could now tally as few as 150 individuals, he estimates, split
between four or five isolated subpopulations mostly outside of Thailand’s
protected areas."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
