Small truly 'wild' cats worldwide are threatened with extinction
Small "wild" cats worldwide are threatened with extinction
Truly wild-born cats face many dangers to their environments and ecosystems.
SAN FRANCISCO - There are nearly 90 million pet cats in the U.S., and 370 million worldwide. Then there's an unknown, but very large number of so-called feral cats; homeless house cats.
Finally, there is a small number of truly wild-born cats – from tigers, the world's largest, to the rusty-spotted cat, the world's smallest. Many of these species of wild cats face significant challenges and possible extinction due to threats to their environments and food supplies.
What they're saying:
Jim Sanderson – a former nuclear mathematician – is the founder of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, and is one of the most knowledgeable experts on how the world's truly wild cats are adding up and faring today.
Of the 41 recognized cat species in existence, seven are considered "big cats," including tigers, lions, leopards, jaguars, pumas, and so on.
The other 34 species are so-called "small cats," many of which Sanderson has tracked and documented all over the planet.
These truly wild cats evolved to fit and thrive in their environment.
"Some are arboreal, they live in the tops of trees," Sanderson said. "The sand cats live in the hard desert of Saudi Arabia and North Africa. It doesn't drink water. The black footed cat is a really tiny, small cat that lives in South Africa. It's nocturnal, you're not going to go to South Africa to see one, and we have cats in South America that live at 4000 or 5000 meters, higher than any snow leopard in the world."
Their environments and their food supplies are just as challenged as big cats, making many species critically endangered, some of them to the edge of extinction.
For instance, the small, five-pound flat-headed cat of Borneo and Sumatra is threatened by the ever-increasing growth of palm oil plantations, making it the most threatened cat on Earth.
What Can Be Done?:
One solution – small cat tourism – has already been done with the Mongolian Manual or Pallas cat.
"People see the cats with their own eyes, from very close range, they develop a connection. And, it's that connection that helps us save these small cats," Sanderson said. "They can make a lot more money by having tourism and support our tourism efforts."
The Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation also funds materials to prevent losses of domestic animals. Those materials allow local folks to build cat-proof hen houses that prevent wild cats from taking residents' chickens, thereby preventing deadly retaliation against the felines.
"We work with people and the people are happy to work with us," said Sanderson.
That has cut the loss of these virtually unknown species who otherwise might have been killed off or robbed of habitat.
Dig deeper:
If you would like to learn more about small wild cats or donate to their work, here’s how you can reach the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation:
Click on DONATE or go to this site:
https://donate.wildnet.org/?fund=Small_Cats
The Source: Original reporting by Tom Vacar of KTVU