Protection Status
Protection Status: CITES Appendix II
National Legislation:
Fully protected since 1967, but new endangered species legislation sets stronger requirements for habitat
protection, and the national government is now investigating ways to expand protected area coverage
(M. Izawa in litt. 1993). The park does not protect the most important habitat for the Iriomote cat,
lowland coastal forest (Izawa et al. 1991: see Figure 18).
However, the Japanese government is in the process of developing a comprehensive action plan for both
research and conservation (T. Doi in litt. 1993). The best prospect for further reserve establishment
is along the western coastline, but the area has not yet been studied to determine its suitability for the
Iriomote cat (M. Izawa in litt. 1994), and creating more reserves on Iriomote will be politically difficult.
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