Clock ticking for Thai fishing cat

Numbers of endangered feline dwindling as wetlands in which it lives disappear
Nirmal Ghosh, Straits Times 15 Aug 09;

AS DUSK falls over the murmuring waves, quiet mangroves and jagged, brooding cliffs at the edge of the Gulf of Thailand, the fishing cats begin to prowl.

Here in the 98sqkm Khao Sam Roi Yot (KSRY) Marine National Park, a researcher has found Thailand's and possibly South-east Asia's largest remaining population of the endangered feline.

When 39-year-old 'Namfon' Passanan Cutter first surveyed likely fishing cat habitats in Thailand for her master's degree at the University of Minnesota, she did not know her path would lead to KSRY, about 50km south of Hua Hin.

The fishing cat - about twice the size of a house cat - is a barometer of the state of the wetlands it inhabits.

Charismatic megafauna like tigers, elephants, orang utans and giant pandas grab public attention, but smaller species rarely figure. Among hundreds of species disappearing fast from habitat loss and hunting are a dozen or more small cats, the red panda, the slow loris, and recently even the humble pangolin.

Smaller species are no less important. Fishing cats keep ecosystems in balance by preying on rodents, birds and crabs - which farmers consider pests. They also need less space than their large-bodied big cat cousins, so when they start dying off, it is a cause for worry.

Around half the world's wetlands have disappeared since 1900. Associated species are also dwindling.

Fishing cats have virtually disappeared from the lower Malay peninsula. Across their Asian habitat, their population has plunged to probably fewer than 10,000.

Their low-lying habitat has been turned into industrial and urban infrastructure. Peat swamp forests have been replaced by commercial plantations. In much of coastal tropical Asia, wetlands have been converted to cultivation and prawn farming.

Agri- and aqua-culture bring chemicals and poisons with them, applied to control diseases and pests. Urbanisation brings waste, and cats and dogs. Namfon's camera traps have recorded feral house cats and feral dogs roaming the wilderness at night. Packs of dogs have attacked and killed fishing cats.

'By the time people realise how important these animals are, they will be gone,' says Namfon, a native of northern Thailand.

Almost by accident last December, she discovered two captive fishing cats with a family at KSRY. Soon she found that fishing cats - only two isolated reports of them occurred elsewhere in Thailand - appeared to be surviving in KSRY, though there was no official record.

Namfon set up camera traps - battery-powered cameras triggered by breaking an infrared beam - in likely places.

On the first night, the cameras recorded a female with two kittens.

The discovery was cause for celebration. But even the top predator in KSRY remains on the margins and under threat.

KSRY is a wetland of international importance under the 1971 Ramsar Convention. But roads crisscross the area. Prawn farms have taken over vast tracts. Reed grass beds where fishing cats breed and deliver their cubs have vanished.

Feral cats and dogs compete with the fishing cat, and bring the risk of zoonotic disease - viruses which cross over between humans and animals. Disease could wipe out the fishing cats in weeks.

Poaching for the meat of the cat - or revenge killings if a cat kills a domestic chicken - is also a threat.

Namfon began her project - funded by, among others, the Smithsonian Institute, Cincinnati Zoo, a World Conservation Society Fellowship, and supported by Thailand's department of national parks - in earnest six months ago.

Every day she dons rubber boots and a hat against the hot sun, sprays on mosquito repellent, and trudges through mud and slush and dense brush to check cameras and baited traps.

The footage provides a visual record of individual animals. Trapped cats are tranquilised and checked for injuries and diseases. After DNA sampling, a collar that transmits a radio signal is placed around the neck.

In six months she has photographed 15 cats and collared seven.

But she has found two collared cats dead - one killed by a vehicle on the road, the other submerged in a rice field, badly decomposed and the cause of death unknown. Locals say it may have been shot.

Two others cannot be found.

An earlier study in Nepal found that male fishing cats can range over some 22 sq km. Females range over 4 to 8 sq km.

In the 98 sq km KSRY, where some of the area is rugged, rocky 'karst' outcrops and some is offshore, they simply do not have that kind of space. They must run the gauntlet of roads and open fields.

Namfon's radio telemetry records show that fishing cats spend a lot of time in rice fields, which are not their natural habitat.

The research will determine the fishing cats' eating habits. If, as suspected, they do not raid prawn farms, that would reassure many locals.

Namfon wants to educate local children to the fact that the cats are not a threat. The surrounding community's support is the key to their survival, she says.

'We can't leave out people.'