IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Coudrat, C.N.Z.; Nanthavong, C.; Sayavong, S.; Johnson, A.; Johnston, J.B.; Robichaud, W.G. | |
| Non-_Panthera_ cats in Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area, Lao PDR | |
| 2014 Cat News (Special Issue 8): 45-52 | |
Small and medium-sized wild cat species (2 - 20 kg, non-_Panthera _species) in Laos remain little known. So far, four species are known to occur in the country: Least Concern leopard cat _Prionailurus bengalensis_, Near Threatened Asiatic golden cat _Catopuma temminckii_, Vulnerable marbled cat _Pardofelis marmorata _and Vulnerable mainland clouded leopard _Neofelis nebulosa_. Although all four were confirmed in the Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area NNT NPA during a camera-trap survey of 20,452 camera trap-days, from March 2006 to January 2011, only 21 images were captured of these species. In contrast, all these species were found with much lower survey efforts in NNT NPA in the 1990s and continue to be readily cameratrapped in other evergreen forest sites in South-east Asia. In combination, these factors indicate that the present low encounter rate is likely to represent recently reduced density in NNT NPA. Although the area supports over 3,000 km2 of largely little-encroached forest, hunting pressure from Lao and mostly Vietnamese poachers is probably responsible for the vanishing populations of these now-rare species in the area. This is a consequence of the remarkable amount of non-selective ground snares used throughout most of the area, a situation typical for most forest areas in Laos and Viet-nam. Because of its size and habitat condition, NNT NPA should be one of the most important areas in the country and the region for the conservation of small carnivore species including wild cats, but this importance is rapidly eroding. Therefore, action is urgently needed to control illegal hunting in the area for the conservation of non-_Panthera _wild cat species. |
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