Chat doré

At least 6.5% of forest (projected from FAO 2011) in Golden Cat range countries has been lost in the past three Golden Cat generations (15 years, Pacifici et al. 2013). This translates into, at minimum, an equivalent loss of range for the Golden Cat as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. Prior to the year 2000, West and East Africa had already suffered an 88-92% reduction in rainforest, while Central Africa’s rainforest extent was reduced by 40% (Laurance et al. 2006).

Intensive hunting for bushmeat (>1 million tonnes per year harvested in the Congo Basin, the species’ main stronghold; Wilkie and Carpenter 1999), leading to ‘empty forest syndrome’ (Sayer 1992), likely accounts for greater reduction in area of occupancy (AOO) for the Golden Cat than deforestation, but is more difficult to quantify. Within 10–15 km of roads and settlements, large and medium bodied mammals experience sharp declines in population (Laurance et al. 2006, Blake et al. 2007, Henschel 2008). In excess of 64% of forest habitat in the Congo Basin lies within 10 km of a road and is also predicted to be affected by higher hunting pressure (Blake et al. 2007). Development of roads increased rapidly in the past 15 years (e.g. 35% increase in the Democratic Republic of Congo and >300% increase in northern Republic of Congo since the year 2000; Laporte et al. 2007). Golden Cat populations within these highly impacted areas are likely to be severely reduced or extirpated through direct mortality and loss of prey.

Golden cats are often not a primary target species, but are frequently killed by wire-snares (four individuals in two months in 20 km² in Gabon; Bahaa-el-din pers. obs.; and 13 individuals in three months in Lobéké, Cameroon; Ray et al. 2005), probably owing to similarities in body size and trail use to target species such as duikers. In an area of moderate bushmeat hunting, Golden Cats were recorded at less than a quarter of the population densities that they are found at in pristine areas (Bahaa-el-din et al. in prep). Where more intense hunting occurs, such as in village hunting areas (e.g. Dibouka village in central Gabon; Henschel 2008) and national parks (e.g. Korup NP in southwest Cameroon; TEAM, http://www.teamnetwork.org), camera trap and bushmeat studies did not record the species despite the presence of suitable habitat contiguous with the main forest of the Congo Basin.

Recent landscape-scale Golden Cat surveys in mainland Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni) emphasize that prior range estimates based on forest cover may have significantly overestimated remaining golden cat range. An estimated 78% of Rio Muni consists of tropical dense forest and therefore putatively suitable habitat, but Golden Cats were found to occupy just 16% of the area (Martinez Marti 2011). Its presence in the area was correlated with rugged, inaccessible terrain away from human disturbance (Martinez Marti 2011). Golden Cats were reported by locals to be easy to hunt and locally extirpated long before other medium-to-large mammal species (Martinez Marti 2011).

These threats will intensify, as the human population within the species’ range shows the fastest growth rates in the world (+2.6-2.8% per annum for West, Central and East Africa; FAO 2011). The population in main Golden Cat range countries, estimated at nearly a quarter of a billion for 2013, is projected to almost quadruple by 2100 (UN 2012, http://esa.un.org/wpp/).

The current “stampede of foreign investment” in mining activities and associated infrastructure development in Africa is of immediate concern (Edwards et al. 2014). In Central Africa, 42% of ecologically important areas would be directly impacted if there were complete development of mineral resources in the region (assuming that ecological impacts extend within 10 km of mines; Edwards et al. 2014). China’s mineral investment alone has quadrupled in 10 years (Zhang 2011). In addition, it is predicted that the conversion of forests to oil palm plantations, which has caused extensive loss of forest habitat and biodiversity in Southeast Asia, will have similar impacts in Africa (particularly in West and Central Africa) as it expands over the coming years (Wich et al. 2014). The realisation of these investments includes habitat destruction and degradation, relocation of human populations into previously remote areas and massive-scale infrastructural development including road and rail which in turn lead to the aforementioned surge in bushmeat hunting in these areas (Edwards et al. 2014).

Included on CITES Appendix II. Hunting of this species is prohibited in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo, with hunting regulations in place in Gabon, Liberia and Togo (Nowell and Jackson 1996).

Key protected areas for the species include: Gola F.R. (Sierra Leone), Mount Nimba Strict N.R. (Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea), Sapo N.P. (Liberia), Taï and Comoé National Parks (Côte d'Ivoire), Gashaka Gumti N.P. (Nigeria), Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon), Lopé N.P. and Ivindo N.P. (Gabon), Odzala and Nouabale-Ndoki National Parks (Congo Republic) and Dzangha-Ndoki National Parks (CAR), Virunga N.P. (DR Congo), Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi Impenetrable National Parks (Uganda) (Butynski and Ray 2013).

There is a need for further survey work to acquire reliable population density estimates in various forest types, including disturbed habitats, in order to help better determine the population status across the range of the species.