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Fishing Cat surveyS. Mukherjee et al.Appendix 1. Questionnaire used for assessing threatsName –Age –Location –(Show pictures of fishing cat, jungle cat, otter, small Indian civet,palm civet to help them identify)A)1.2.a.b.c.3.a.b.c.4.a.b.c.d.e.5.Regarding Fishing CatWhat do you call Fishing Cat locally?How many times have you seen Fishing Cats in your lifetime?Never5-10 timesMore than thatHow many times have you seen Fishing Cats within oneyear?Never5-10 timesMore than thatWhen have you seen them?DawnMorningAfternoonDuskNightHave you seen adults or babies?B) Threats1. Have you ever killed Fishing Cats?Yes/No2.a.b.c.3.If yes, how many have you killed?01-3More than thatIf you have, then what was the reason?4. Do you know that it is illegal to kill Tigers? (Yes/No).In the same way, do you know that Fishing Cats areprotected by law?Yes/No5. Do you know that you can get arrested for killing FishingCats?Yes/No6.C)1.a.b.c.Have you ever seen or heard about tribal people killingFishing Cats in your area?HabitatDo you know where Fishing Cats live?HoglaBorojOther (specify)2. Do you know that they live in wetlands?Yes/No3. Was the expanse of wetlands more 20 years ago than it isnow?Yes/No4. Are wetlands shrinking according to you?Yes/No5. What do you think are the reasons behind degradation ofwetlands?D) Man-animal Conflict1. Have cats ever killed your poultry?Yes/No2.a.b.c.On an average how many of your animals are killed everymonth by Fishing Cat?01-5More than that3. Are the chickens kept in coops?Yes/No4. Have the coops/fence protecting your livestock ever beenbroken by Fishing Cat?Yes/No5. Do Fishing Cats eat fish from your pond?Yes/No6.How do you know that Fishing Cats have eaten the fish andnot any other animal like jungle Cat, Civet or Otter?7. Were you ever attacked by them when you saw them?Yes/NoE) Threat Mitigation1. Do you have any nature clubs or NGOs related to wildlifeconservation in your area?Yes/No2. Are you a part of such an organization?Yes/No3. If no, then would you like to be?Yes/No4. If we compensate for your livestock killing, would you stoppersecuting the fishing cats?Yes/No.Downloaded on 26 April 2012.Mukherjee, S., C.N. Ashalakshmi, C. Home & U.Ramakrishnan (2010b). A PCR-RFLP technique to identifyIndian felids and canids from scats. BioMed Central ResearchNotes 3: 159 (doi:10.1186/1756-0500-3-159).Mukherjee, N., S. Mondol, A. Andheria & U. Ramakrishnan(2007). Rapid multiplex PCR based species identificationof wild tigers using non-invasive samples. ConservationGenetics 8(6): 1465–1470.Nowell, K. & P. Jackson (eds.). (1996). Wild Cats, Status Surveyand Conservation Action Plan. IUCN, Gland Switzerland.382pp.Pocock, R.I. (1939). The fauna of British India, including Ceylonand Burma. Mammalia 1: Primates and Carnivora. (In part).2 nd edition. (Reprint edition, 1985 NewDelhi: Today andTomorrow’s Printers and Publishers,). Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press.Prasad, S.N., T.V. Ramachandra, N. Ahalya, T. Sengupta,A. Alokumar, A.K. Tiwari, V.S. Vijayan & L. Vijayan(2002). Conservation of wetlands of India-a review. TropicalEcology 43: 173–186.Sunquist, M.E. & F.C. Sunquist (2002). Wild Cats of the World.University Chicago Press, Chicago, 452pp.Ravishankar, T., L. Gnanappazham, R. Ramasubramanian,D. Sridhar, M. Navamuniyammal & V. Selvam (2004).Atlas of Mangrove Wetlands of India, Part-2—AndhraPradesh. M.S. Swaminathan ResearchFoundation, Chennai, 136pp.Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | November 2012 | 4(14): 3355–33613361