In a first, WII experts collar three fishing cats in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh

In a first, WII experts collar three fishing cats in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh. Seven more will be collared under the Fishing Cat Collaring Project to study the home range, behaviour, feeding, breeding, and prey pattern of the endangered species, they say.

Experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, have collared three endangered fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) for the first time in India to study various factors such as home range, behaviour, breeding, and prey patterns of the species, in the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) in the Godavari estuary in Kakinada district.

The Fishing Cat Collaring Project is led by conservation biologist Bilal Habib, WII-Dehradun. The collaring was done in the sanctuary in the last week of May.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Coringa and Krishna sanctuaries are home to the fishing cat. By 2018, their population was 115 in the CWS, which spreads over 235 square kilometers. In 2019, the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and WII-Dehradun had kick-started the three-year Fishing Cat Collaring Project, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have collared three fishing cats with lightweight equipment containing a Geographical Information System in the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary. The equipment is expected to function for a year, if there is no damage to it,” Dr. Bilal Habib told The Hindu over phone on Wednesday.

“In India, the home range of the species has not been studied so far. The collaring project primarily aims at recording the home range of the species by tracing the collared three fishing cats for one year. This is the first time in India to collar the fishing cats in the CWS,” said Dr. Bilal Habib.

In Asia, the fishing cat was collared in Bangladesh. Simultaneously, the collaring project would also enumerate the fishing cat population in the sanctuary. The WII experts and the A.P. Forest Department would capture and collar 10 fishing cats under the project in the CWS as consented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

“The collaring has been done to study and record the behavioural patterns, prey chart, breeding and feeding habits of the fishing cat. The complete movements of the collared fishing cats will be monitored till the end of the project,” said Chief Conservator of Forests, Rajahmundry, B.N.N. Murthy.