Villagers and members of an environmental organisation have safely returned two cubs of the endangered fishing cat to their mother in Huliyamari village of Titudah union in Chuadanga Sadar upazila. Their awareness and patience have won praise in the area.

Around midday on Friday, 31 July, local resident Miraj was working in a bamboo grove next to the village Eidgah when he saw two young animals that looked like tiger cubs. When word spread, many at first thought they were tiger cubs, but later everyone decided not to touch the animals and to wait for their mother.

Miraj then informed Ahsan Habib Shiplu, president of Bangladesh Wildlife and Nature Initiative and a zoology lecturer at Baro Salua New Model Degree College. On his advice, everyone kept watch over the two cubs from a safe distance.

A little later the mother fishing cat came and took one cub. She was slow to return for the other, so everyone kept waiting. Finally, at around 9pm, she came back and took the second cub too.

Ahsan Habib Shiplu said the fishing cat is an endangered and protected wild animal, known locally as baghdasha or baghrol. As a friend of farmers, it plays an important role in protecting crops by controlling rats, and helps maintain biodiversity and the balance of the ecosystem.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.