Over 15 Fishing Cats spotted over a year outside the Krishna sanctuary
Fishing Cats were spotted near the Krishna sanctuary with the help of camera traps, scats and tracks.
Visakhapatnam: Vizag-based conservation biologists have spotted fishing cat, which is listed in threatened species of IUCN’s Red List, of Kambalakonda in Vizag and outside Krishna Wild Life Sanctuary in Krishna district. Founders of Eastern Ghats Wildlife Conservation Society, Murthy Kanthimahanti and Ashwin Naidu, in collaboration with Texas-based Fishing Cat Conservancy had embarked on a study on the highly endangered Fishing Cat outside protected areas in the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh.
They spotted more than 15 Fishing Cats over a year outside the Krishna sanctuary with the help of camera traps, scats and tracks. They are now worried about the large scale infrastructure activity in the district as part of capital region development which may further threaten these small cats. Though it is believed that Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary has significa-nt population of Fishing Cats in the world, no concrete surveys on Fis-hing Cats in the region have been taken up.
Until now in the IUCN records, it was only Coringa wildlife sanctuary in East Godavari that these Fishing Cats are spotted in the southern most distribution point of Indian sub-continent. “Based on the secondary information from the locals we have setup camera traps outside Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary and we were surprised to spot 15 individual fishing cats. Unfortunately there is low awareness in India on the conservation of small cats while the focus has been only on big cats like tiger conservation.
There have been no efforts in this area at all. Locals who used to see Fishing Cats were of the opinion that they are leopards or hyenas. In Kambalakonda too we have spotted these highly endangered species. We are now worried with the large scale infrastructure activities being taken up by the government in the district as part of capital development,” said Mr Murthy Kanthimahanti, who just returned from Florida after attending wildlife leaders training.
He added since land prices have suddenly shot up in the region, there are chances of encroachments in the surroundings of the wildlife sanctuary where they were spotted. He opined that strict enforcement of ‘no development zone’ where these Fishing Cats have been spotted may help these endangered species survive.
( Source : dc )
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