After rescuing a kitten off the street, the family contacted the Wildlife Friends Foundation. They discovered that he was in fact a Fishing Cat, an endangered and extremely rare species of cat. Luckily, Simba is now out of danger and being well looked after.
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No ordinary cat
Meet Simba, a fishing cat kitten that was recently found by a member of the public in the middle of the road in front of their house in Thailand. Because the kitten wasn’t with its mother, the WFFT Rescue Team was called to the scene to investigate.
When the animal rescue association arrived, they soon realised that the little kitten had only born a few hours before. When they made further inquiries, they found out that the mother of the fishing cat was actually a former rescued animal that had been released, that had been found in a rice field next to the house.
The day before, residents said they had seen the mother who must have given birth to her litter of kittens somewhere close to the house, but then decided to move them to a different location shortly after. While moving the kittens she must have dropped this particular kitten in the road and she unfortunately hadn’t returned.
When the association arrived, they found the kitten very cold and in urgent need of some milk, so they took it straight back to the WFFT Wildlife Hospital in order to take care of it.
Fishing cat—an endangered species
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the fishing cat as vulnerable. Recent surveys and data suggest that fishing cat populations are declining at an alarming rate, particularly in Southeast Asia. This specie faces lots of threats such as habitat destruction. Poaching is also one of the biggest threats in Thailand, and the global population is suspected to have declined by around 30% or more over the past 15 years.
Check out the video above to see how little Simba went from being a tiny bedraggled kitten to a magnificent Fishing Cat!
