Abstract
Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus is threatened throughout its range by habitat loss, persecution, and non-targeted hunting; it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Even basic distribution data are still lacking in many parts of its range, particularly in southeastern Asia where most wildlife surveys focus on large charismatic carnivores in protected habitats, typically inland blocks of evergreen or semi-evergreen and deciduous forests. This report aims to update on distribution and status of Fishing Cat in Thailand. Historic (the 1980s) and current (2007–2017) records from Thailand were compiled based on personal communications, local news agencies, social media pages, and publications. The current Thai Fishing Cat distribution seems to be highly fragmented and mostly in coastal wetlands of the Inner Gulf of Thailand and the Thai-Malay Peninsula with one confirmed record from a riverine habitat in central Thailand. No confirmed records came from protected forested areas—perhaps these are marginal habitat for Fishing Cat. Nevertheless, there were no targeted surveys in those areas. Fishing Cat was so far not detected from on-going otters’ targeted camera trap surveys along Thailand’s Andaman coast. Future surveys should focus on coastal and inland wetlands to expedite the discovery of remaining populations before these are extirpated.
Highlights
Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus has a wide distribution across southern and southeastern Asia
It further documented that the cat was reported to a local politician who appeared to recognize the animal as a Fishing Cat
He asked to keep the animal instead of releasing it to the wild, in fear of the cat being killed and eaten by locals. He convinced the locals that he would report to the authorities, the Department of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP), for permission to keep the animal in captivity
Summary
Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus has a wide distribution across southern and southeastern Asia. Appear to have declined significantly due to habitat loss, non-targeted hunting, and retaliatory killing associated with livestock depredation and/or damage to aquaculture (e.g., fish ponds; Mukherjee et al 2016). Thailand may be one of the important strongholds for Fishing Cat and a regional priority range country for its conservation—it has few degraded habitats, at least those that are potentially suitable for Fishing Cat, e.g., in coastal mangroves, within large protected areas with a high protection level and law enforcement measures, and populations of ecologically similar species like otters. Between 1996 and 2011, there were only a few targeted surveys for Fishing Cat that yielded confirmed records and these were mainly in and around Khao Sam Roi Yot (SRY) and Thale Noi Non-hunting Area (Cutter & Cutter 2009; Tantipisanuh et al 2014; Fig. 1). Negative interaction with people on livestock-raiding led to retribution killings of at least five out of 16 Fishing Cats monitored during this study (Cutter 2015)
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