Rare golden cat clicked in Neora

Pinak Priya Bhattacharya and Krishnendu Mukherjee | TNN | Jan 14, 2018, KOLKATA: Quest for tigers in north Bengal's Neora Valley National Park has left the foresters with a snap of the extremely rare and secretive golden cat, considered a near threatened species due to largescale hunting pressure and habitat loss.

This is probably the first photographic evidence of the medium-sized wild cat in Bengal. The sighting, a source said, has happened at an altitude of more than 8,000ft.

The euphoria over the tiger at the park — sighted and camera-trapped at least four times since January 2017 — was so much that the golden cat image, clicked in one of the camera stations inside the park in November last year, came to light only on Friday. The forest department has placed 22 trap stations (each station has two cameras) to get an insight on the wildlife inside the park.

Though the forest department is yet to confirm its identity, conservationists are upbeat about the finding. "It's a hazy picture and we can confirm the species only after consulting scientists and wildlife biologists," said chief wildlife warden Ravi Kant Sinha.

However, wildlife enthusiasts said the white lines bordered with black running across its cheek — the most conspicuous feature in an Asian golden cat — can be figured out from the image.

Earlier, golden cats, protected under Schedule I of the wildlife protection act, were recorded at Pakke and Namdapha tiger reserves in Arunachal. Sightings were also reported from Assam's Manas and Jeypore-Dehing rainforest.

Images of clouded leopard, wild dogs, Himalayan serow and a marbled cat too have been captured in the trap cameras installed in Neora. All these species, however, were earlier camera-trapped in Buxa too.

"In my knowledge, this is probably the first photo evidence of golden cat in Bengal," said wildlife advisory board member Biswajit Roychowdhury. Conservationist Kushal Mookherjee also said he was not aware of any photo evidence of the species from the wild in Bengal.