African Golden Cat Status

Africa Golden cat status in the wild and captivity.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies the African Golden Cat as Near Threatened. We should not take this as gospel truth despite the fact that the Red List is the best source of status in the wild for this cat. This is because little is known about the species. There must be a large element of guesswork in this assessment. This sheds some light on the role of the IUCN Red List. Its work can lure people into the belief that things are alright when they might not be.



Threats to Survival

Habitat loss due to for instance palm oil developments. This causes deforestation. This also causes prey depletion. Hunting by local people for bush meat trade and incidental trappings are factors. The bush meat trade depletes prey items. The cat's skin is desirable and may result in this cat being killed. It is protected from being hunted but is the law enforced?

Status in Captivity

Rare in captivity. There are only a few. Naturally, this creates problems of breeding and therefore survival in captivity. Generally, wild cats don't do well in captivity. African golden cats in captivity have nothing to do with conservation, it appears.

CITES

Listed under CITES Appendix I

See IUCN Red List and Cats for a list of all wild cats and their survival status in the wild.