A fishing cat, one of the endangered animals in India, has been spotted in West Bengal’s Howrah district this week. On August 31, a fishing cat was caught in the CCTV camera installed in the area. Sardar Para residents of East Korla area of Domjur block of Howrah are in panic after this incident. Without confirmation, local media mistook the fishing cat as a tiger and reported that a tiger had been sighted in the area.
According to locals, on August 31, some youths saw a strange creature in the area. The youth got scared thinking that the animal was a tiger. This was reported by several local media outlets, which triggered panic among those who had not seen any tigers in the area for many years. Later, a CCTV camera in the area was checked and it was found that the animal was a fishing cat.
Meanwhile, several local online portals compared the animal to a tiger. As a result, people of the area armed with conventional weapons started searching for the animal in the forest at night.
Shubhdeep Ghosh, Secretary, Environment Organization, Howrah District Joint Environment Forum, lashed out at the online news portals. He said that due to the lack of awareness about wildlife in the rural population, the members of his organization face various challenges to protect the wildlife in the rural areas.
“Fake news not only scares the people of the area but also endangers the lives of endangered species. We have complained to the forest department. We have also distributed the research booklet of ‘The Fishing Cat Project’ to the public.”
Forest Range Officer (Howrah Urban) Nirmal Mandal urged people not to panic and spread rumours. He said, “The footage and footprints found in the CCTV prove that the animal is a fishing cat. The main food of the animal is fish. The animal does not harm humans. On the contrary, they benefit people by eating rats and other small animals that damage agricultural produce.”
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