page_title: Fishing cat
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Fishing cat / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the most elusive species from the mangrove forest of Indian Sundarban was photographed during a month long expedition in the month of February 2017.
context_page_description: The fishing cat is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat lives foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps, and mangroves.
  The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal.
context_section_description: The fishing cat is broadly but discontinuously distributed in South and Southeast Asia.
  It is strongly associated with wetlands, inhabiting swamps and marshy areas around oxbow lakes, reed beds, tidal creeks and mangrove forests; it seems less abundant around smaller, fast-moving watercourses. Most records are from lowland areas.
  In Pakistan's Sindh Province, the fishing cat was recorded in the Chotiari Dam area in 2012.
  In the Nepal Terai, it has been recorded in Bardia, Chitwan and Parsa National Parks and in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve.
  In India, its presence has been documented in:
  Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, in Dudhwa and Valmiki Tiger Reserves, in Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary,
  outside protected areas in West Bengal, in Lothian Island Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sundarbans,
  in Odisha's Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and coastal districts outside protected areas,
  in Andhra Pradesh's Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining reserve forests.
  Reports in Bangladeshi newspapers indicate that fishing cats live in all divisions of Bangladesh but are severely threatened; villagers killed at least 30 fishing cats between January 2010 and March 2013.
  In Sri Lanka, it has been recorded in multiple localities ranging from coastal to hilly regions.
  In Myanmar, it was recorded in the Ayeyarwady Delta in 2016 and 2018.
  In Thailand, its presence has been documented in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park and Thale Noi Non-Hunting Area along the coast, and in Kaeng Krachan National Park. Between 2007 and 2016, it was also recorded near wetlands outside protected areas in Phitsanulok Province, Bang Khun Thian District, Samut Sakhon Province, Phetchaburi and Songkhla Provinces, and near a mangrove site in Pattani.
  In Cambodia, a single fishing cat was photographed by a camera trap in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in March 2003. In 2008, a fishing cat kitten was found in Botum-Sakor National Park. In 2015, it was also recorded in Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary.
  The island of Java constitutes the southern limit of the fishing cat's range, but by the 1990s fishing cats were scarce and apparently restricted to tidal forests with sandy or muddy shores, older mangrove stands, and abandoned mangrove plantation areas with fishponds. There are no confirmed records from Peninsular Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.
caption: A fishing cat in the Sundarbans
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