First-ever survey on fishing cats of the Chilika lake in Odisha

The first-ever survey of the elusive fishing cat in and around Asia’s biggest brackish water lagoon, the Chilika lake in Odisha, started on March 1, 2021.The survey to enumerate the animal’s population is being done by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA), the regulatory body for the lake. The fishing cat is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List. In India, the fishing cat is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and thereby protected from hunting.
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About Fishing cats
Fishing cats are almost twice the size of the house cat. They are generally found in the marshy wetlands of northern and eastern India and on the mangroves of the east coast.