Sachin Timilsina, Rama Mishra, Amit Adhikari, Subash Gautam, Bijaya Neupane,
Volume 3, Issue 2 (6-2021)
The Fishing cat, Prionailurus viverrinus is a medium-sized, wild felid, native to south and Southeast Asia. The global status of the species has been assessed as ‘Vulnerable’ by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and it is further listed as ‘Endangered’ in Nepal. Knowledge on the species is limited due to scarce research studies, resulting in a lack of ecological information. A few conservation programs for the species have been initiated in the past but current concern is that conservation programs may not be sufficient for the long-term survival of the species in Nepal. Therefore, we reviewed the available published scientific literature and anecdotal reports relating to the Fishing cats in Nepal, and used this data to assess current population status, distribution, threats and conservation efforts for the species. We screened and selected 49 scientific papers and reports related to Fishing cats for the current study and analyzed them to produce our findings. Our results found that fishing cats are recorded from five protected areas, and three non-protected wetland areas, within the Terai region of Southern Nepal. Two publications are found that substantiate the population status of the species in the country. In Protected Areas of Nepal, most of the Fishing cat records were accessed through camera trap surveys targeting large cat species. Fishing cats have been facing extinction threats mainly due to poaching, human over-exploitation of local fish stocks, retaliatory killing, wetland shrinkage and conversion, pollution and other conflicts with humans. We believe our review will be a useful guide for conservationists, managers and wildlife researchers to promote the conservation of this charismatic and threatened species in Nepal.
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