GS III
👉World’s first fishing cat census done at Chilika:
🔸The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia, listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
👉Fishing cat populations are threatened by the destruction of wetlands and have declined severely over the last decade. The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal.
🔸According to a census conducted by Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in collaboration with The Fishing Cat Project (TFCP) the Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, has 176 fishing cats.
