Kolkata: In a first, a fishing cat, state animal of Bengal, has been recorded in the western part of the state, extending its known range beyond the Gangetic plains.
Cameras placed to capture wolves near industrial town Durgapur by Wildlife Information and Nature Guide Society (WINGS) under a WWF-India-funded project have captured an adult fishing cat — first photo evidence of the species from West Burdwan.
Earlier in Bengal, its presence was recorded in East Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, Nadia, Murshidabad, North and South 24 Parganas.
The finding has recently been published in Cat News, a global publication by the IUCN/Species Survival Commission Cat Specialist Group providing articles and research on conservation of wild cat species.
According to the report: "One adult female fishing cat was photographed during an ongoing project on Indian grey wolves.
This new photographic evidence not only extends the known range of the fishing cat beyond the Gangetic plains of Bengal but also marks first photographic record of the species from western West Bengal."
The study area, approximately 5 square kilometres, surrounds the village of Madhaiganj, barely 22 km from Durgapur, and includes dry deciduous forest patches, along with grasslands, barren lands and agricultural fields.
The study has been authored by Arkajyoti Mukherjee, Manish Kumar Chattopadhyay, Arnish Bose and Sagar Adhurya from Durgapur Wildlife Information and Nature Guide Society, Anupam Khan and Kalyan Das, representing the state forest dept, and Kaushik Deuti and Gourav Dhar Bhowmick of Zoological Survey of India.
The presence of this species in a human-dominated landscape highlights its remarkable adaptability, even in areas far from typical wetland habitats, said the report.
Locals were able to identify the species from the photograph owing to sensitisation camps on small mammal conservation in West Burdwan under the ongoing WWF-India-funded project, said Chattopadhyay.
"Sustainable, multi-faceted conservation strategies are essential to safeguard the rich biodiversity of this region," added Das, former chief conservator of forest (south-east circle).
Tiasa Adhya, conservationist, wildlife biologist and member of IUCN Cat Specialist Group, said animals always track habitats, particularly when the Gangetic plains in Bengal are not intact. "So, to me, this is an interesting finding from a sub-optimal habitat. But the research should continue to find out if there is a viable population of fishing cats in the zone or this is only a sporadic sighting," she added.