Chat orné

Afro-Asiatic wildcats are considered to be threatened by domestic cats and hybridization is widespread across their range (Yamaguchi et al. 2015, Yu et al. 2021). However, a recent study (Le Roux et al. 2015), showed that wildcat populations in South Africa appear to be genetically pure, with low levels of hybridization, and protected areas play an important role in maintaining genetic purity by reducing the likelihood of contact with domestic cats. There is insufficient information on the level of hybridization with domestic cats in other parts of the range, and therefore, this threat should not be underestimated. Feral domestic cats also compete with wildcats for prey and space, and there is a high potential for disease transmission between domestic cats and wildcats (Nowell and Jackson 1996, Yamaguchi et al. 1996, Daniels et al. 1999, Macdonald et al. 2004).

Other threats include significant human-caused mortality, especially road kills and retaliatory killing as a consequence of depredation on livestock and poultry (Ghoddousi et al. 2016, F. Cuzin pers. comm. 2019). Moreover, wildcats are caught as bycatch in traps set for other species (Hashim and Mahgoub 2008, Stuart et al. 2013, Ghoddousi et al. 2016, A. Samna pers. comm. 2019, F. Belbachir pers. obs. 2019). Afro-Asiatic wildcats are also killed as pests in southern Africa, although this does not seem to have resulted in population declines (Stuart et al. 2013). Habitat loss is also known as one of the threats to Afro-Asiatic wildcats. For example, the expansion of cotton plantations and gas fields in China or development of so called ‘wasteland habitats’ in India (Sharma 1998) have reduced their suitable habitat. However, wildcats persist in cultivated landscapes with increased rodent population densities (Sunquist and Sunquist 2002), although these are the areas where hybridization with domestic cats occurs and spreads. Moreover, free-ranging dogs kill wildcats and may increase their mortality rate, especially along protected area boundaries where they occur in significant numbers (TAWIRI 2009). Finally, the impacts of uncontrolled breeding of pure wildcats and selling of individuals as pets are unknown (Herbst et al. 2016).

The species is included on CITES Appendix II since 1977. The Afro-Asiatic wildcat is fully protected across some of its African and Asian range countries (Nowell and Jackson 1996), although effective implementation of protection on the ground may be a different issue. Included on the Regional Red List Status of Carnivores in the Arabian Peninsula (Mallon and Budd 2011) as well as in Morocco (Cuzin 2003), where the species is listed as Near Threatened. The Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland classified it as Least Concern (Herbst et al. 2016). In India, it is scheduled I in the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), the highest level of protection for any given species. The Afro-Asiatic wildcat is legally protected in Afghanistan since 2009, which bans all hunting and trading of this species. It is a protected species according to the Red Books of China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia and Russia. The wildcat is part of Tanzania’s Carnivore Action Plan (TAWIRI 2009).

There is an international studbook of Afro-Asiatic wildcat from the Arabian Peninsula, initiated in 1997 (Olbricht 1997) and continued since then (Sliwa 2006, 2013) to maintain a pure (unhybridized) population in captivity. There are about 60 registered individuals living in 12 institutions worldwide.

Despite the existence of a range of threats, there is very limited conservation attention on Afro-Asiatic wildcats. In South Africa and Tanzania feral or hybrid cats are removed/banned from protected areas. In Tajikistan, conservation efforts on snow leopard (Panthera uncia) and markhor (Capra falconeri), and in India on Great Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) may indirectly benefit Afro-Asiatic wildcats as well. The main conservation needs include 1) assessment of hybridization threat in different parts of the range; 2) preventing hybridization by neutering and removing feral domestic cats, as well as, control of ownership and population levels of domestic cats; 3) human-wildcat conflict mitigation measures; 4) identification of roadkill hotspots and implementation of safe corridors; 4) control of illegal trade of wildcat fur and body parts; 5) control of habitat loss and degradation.