A leopard cat has been sighted in Tainan for the first time in 17 years, and the furthest south one has ever been spotted, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said on Wednesday.
The leopard cat was captured on an infrared wildlife camera set up downstream near the Zengwen River (曾文溪) to monitor mammal movement corridors, the agency said.
Taichung, Miaoli County and Nantou County have long had stable populations, but in recent years there have been sporadic sightings in Hsinchu, Changhua and Chiayi counties, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency
Spotting one as far south as Tainan has “special significance,” the agency added.
The place the leopard cat was found is in one of the 45 “conservation belts” established around Taiwan since 2018 to protect foothill habitats threatened by development, it said.
The agency has asked its Chiayi branch to study whether the Zengwen River corridor should be included in a subsidy program to help farmers adopt leopard cat-friendly methods, it added.
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