Wetland Cats

[Cookie Grosky]

The mostly nocturnal fishing cat, about twice the size of a domestic cat, boasts a glossy yellowish-gray double-layered coat, which offers a water barrier and insulation when it plunges to catch fish; its paws are slightly webbed, while its ears close shut when its nose is submerged in shallow water.

Thanks to researchers and conservationists, often working with shoestring budgets, comparatively more is known about fishing cats compared to some other small wildcat species. But significant and sometimes glaring knowledge gaps remain, Adhya says.

Population estimates are scant in other regions too, often complicated by the wet, difficult-to-traverse habitat in which these cats dwell. The IUCN lists the fishing cat as vulnerable, with global estimates of less than 10,000 individuals as of 2010 in at least eight Asian nations.

Earlier this year, researchers in Bangladesh snapped footage of fishing cats scaling 8-meter (26-foot) trees to plunder bird nests. This never-before-witnessed tree-topping behavior underlines how much remains to be learned about this mysterious species.

Across their range, fishing cats face multiple challenges. These include the risk of becoming roadkill, of disease transmitted by domestic animals, of climate change, and even of plastic pollution. Those threats get bigger for any populations dwelling outside protected areas. Persecution due to human-wildlife conflict, hunting and snaring are other significant threats facing fishing cats.

Adhya and her colleagues were at work in Chilika Lake, engaging with local communities and fisherfolk to build awareness, monitor fishing cat populations, and changing species perceptions. Year-round conservation surveillance is now carried out by trained fisherfolk.

Other organizations in India are now deeply involved in fishing cat preservation, organizing successful Fishing Cat Protection Committees, youth camps, conservation initiatives and goat seed banks, which provide community members with livestock to support their livelihoods. Many members of such groups have gone on to form their own groups, with the result that hunting and killing of fishing cats has been reduced in some areas, according to Adhya.

Since the Fishing Cat Project began in 2010, similar projects dedicated to protecting the species have blossomed in other range countries. There are now 13 such projects, all operating under the banner of the Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance (FCCA).

Panthera, a global wildcat conservation NGO, provides the FCCA with vital funding and technical support, notes Wai-Ming Wong, director of small cat conservation science at Panthera and vice president of the FCCA.

This cooperative funding model, largely unique for small cats, provides more than vital cash. Being a small cat group member offers networking opportunities for sharing species data and activism strategies.

Local innovations are flourishing across national boundaries: In Nepal, fishing cat conservationists are operating fish farms to support community livelihoods; in Cambodia, fishing cat advocates are involved in community-driven mangrove restoration; while in Sri Lanka, efforts are targeting severe roadkill risks.

Banner image: A fishing cat caught on camera wandering through a shrimp farm in Thailand, where wildcats can run into conflict with local communities. Panthera operates a project to foster coexistence between farmers and felids. Image courtesy of Sebastian Kennerknecht/Panthera.

Earlier this year, researchers in Bangladesh snapped footage of fishing cats scaling 8-metre (26-foot) trees to plunder bird nests. This never-before-witnessed tree-topping behaviour underlines how much remains to be learned about this mysterious species.

In 2020, the fishing cat became an ambassador species for Chilika Lake, a Ramsar site in Odisha, placing the cat at the forefront of wetland conservation there. By 2021, the first ever survey of the species in that locale was underway.

Other organisations in India are now deeply involved in fishing cat preservation, organising successful Fishing Cat Protection Committees, youth camps, conservation initiatives and goat seed banks, which provide community members with livestock to support their livelihoods. Many members of such groups have gone on to form their own groups, with the result that hunting and killing of fishing cats has been reduced in some areas, according to Adhya.

Banner image: Fishing cats are uniquely adapted to life in wetland habits. These cats are known to exist in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand. The species may already be extinct in Vietnam and Indonesia. Image courtesy of Cloudtail the Snow Leopard via Flickr.

On either side of the elevated road, the fields had been flooded to provide habitat for ducks. I was sitting on my ATV on the levee that held back the water, looking at my truck parked on the road on the other side of one of the shallow impoundments. I checked to make sure all of my my gear was in the carry box and then drove down into the water.

I had just finished a book on bobcat trapping by a very good trapper out West. It included location photos taken in some rough and rocky-looking desert country. For my purposes, those photos might as well have been taken on another planet. I was after cats that made their living in and around the beaver swamps and sloughs of the mid-Mississippi valley.

I came out of the field fairly dry, thanks to chest waders. However, I was significantly shook. Later, I found the cause of the dispy-do. Apparently, flooding had been a problem in this field before. As the water receded, it ran out a ditch the farmer had cut through the field to the creek. I had driven headlong into that ditch.

If a levee is completely overgrown, and it often is, I fight my way to the top to see if there is a trail along the top. If there is, and it is not big enough for deer, I hang a snare in it. Swamp cats slink through some tight places. Basically, if a coon can get through, so can a cat. For this reason, I use a small 6- or 7-inch loop, 10 or 12 inches off the ground. I want the coons to go under the snares.

The levee here was too open to provide year-round hunting for cats. It was maintained in sod, and the brush had been kept low with a boom mower. Still, there was no denying the cat sign. I found both tracks and droppings. Apparently, it was a good place for a cat to hunt during high water, when the mice and voles also became concentrated along the high banks.

The sod path was 8 feet wide, too much to block off and hang a snare. The only suitable trap for the location was a foothold, but the sod itself presented a problem. Sod can foul a trap chain and render the swivels inoperable. Especially a short-chained trap, as all mine are. So, to gain a little leeway, I attached an extra 30-inch length of chain with four additional swiveling points.

While the top of this levee was too open for a snare set, it was narrow enough that I could assume there was no need for an extra flashy set, either. A passing cat would have to come within 8 feet, no matter what.

Just off the edge of it, I stabbed with my trowel until I had outlined a circular pattern for the trap bed; I pulled out the sod in one piece, turned it dirt side up, and placed it outside the trap bed, 180 degrees opposite the stump. This would give the set a walk-through configuration.

Before I set the trap, I centered a coffee filter over the pan. Pressing down on the paper near the notch, I let the pan shank tear a hole in it to accommodate the dog. I set the trap and let the power jaw hold down one edge of the coffee filter. I spread the filter out over the base of the trap and threaded it under the loose jaw, as well. When I placed the trap in the bed, the coffee filter was held in place. Then I covered all with dry dirt.

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