On June 5, 2015, as many as five fishing cats Prionailurus viverrinus were killed in West Bengal's Uluberia subdivision. Bengal's state animal has been facing numerous threats from poachers over the years, and reportedly over two score of these felines have been killed in a span of 18 months.
The social media craze seems to have caught on with the locals, and these poachers posed for the camera with their ‘prize', posting one photo of an imminent beheading and one of a carcass. Ever since the photographs went viral, more than 4000 supporters from 48 countries, including India, have petitioned the Chief Wildlife Warden demanding immediate action against the poachers. Among the petitioners are international conservationists, national scientists and local citizens.
According to ecologist Tiasa Adhya, the locals reportedly killed the cats, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and classified as 'endangered' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list, for meat and skin. Such incidents in Howrah are rampant because of lapse in jurisdictional purview and surveillance facilities. James Sanderson, IUCN's small cat specialist, believes that the bias towards the conservation of the national animal pries focus away from saving the state animal. "Unfortunately, the authorities do not realize that the fishing cat has the same protection status as the tiger. If it was a tiger, the poachers would have been behind the bars already", he adds.
While foresters have lodged an FIR, conservationists say more stringent measures are needed. Chief Wildlife Warden Azam Zaidi says, "I have asked the concerned CF and DFO to initiate a probe. We hope to arrest these culprits, believed to be tribals from Bankura and Purulia, soon."
State wildlife advisory board member Joydip Kundu holds the view that involvement of tribals does not discount poaching in the name of ethnic hunting. Ajith Kumar, the director of the wildlife course at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and also a petitioner is appalled by the series of unfortunate events. He says, "Fishing cats occur in India primarily outside protected areas. If killing continues like this, the species would become extinct very soon."
A large percentage of fishing cats have lost their natural habitat and are venturing into occupied lands to prey on domestic livestock. Sadly, they become the prey, killed by humans for material gains.
Source: The Times of India
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