The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) has designated the fishing cat as ambassador.
- Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia and India’s oldest Ramsar Site. Chilika has one of the country’s largest extensive marsh-ecosystems, spanning around 100 sq. km.
- The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is the only wild cat species in India that is a wetland specialist, and it’s found all around Chilika.
- Fishing cats are mostly found in marshlands fringing the north and north-eastern sections of the lake.
- According to the WWF, in India, fishing cats are mainly found in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, on the foothills of the Himalayas along the Ganga and Brahmaputra river valleys and in the Western Ghats.
- It is nocturnal and apart from fish also preys on frogs, crustaceans, snakes, birds, and scavenges on carcasses of larger animals.
- The fishing cat is a Schedule I species and deserves conservation measures of the highest order in India, as with the tiger and elephant.
- No person is allowed to hunt any wild animal specified in Schedules I of the Wildlife (PROTECTION) ACT, 1972. However, the Chief Wild Life Warden can permit to kill the animal if he is satisfied that any wild animal specified in Schedule I has become dangerous to human life or is so disabled or diseased as to be beyond recovery.
(Source: The Hindu, WWF)
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