For the first time in West Bengal, forest department trap cameras have spotted a rare species of rusty spotted cat at Kotshila forests in Purulia district.

Forest officials claim that there must be more than one rusty spotted cat in the Kotshila Forests in Purulia district.

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Recently, the forest department has started conservation and preservation and breeding of wildlife in that forest and has set up various trap cameras in the Kotshila forest ranges. One of these trap cameras captured the rare cat.

The small but rare cat is a fierce predator and is not only found in the forests of Purulia for the first time but also in West Bengal.

It preys on snakes, rats, birds and lizards. It is still not clear from which region the wild animal has sneaked into the forests in Purulia.

In the past, this rare species was found in Gir National Forests in Gujarat which is famous for Asian lions and Tadoba forest sanctuary in Maharashtra, famous as a tiger reserve.

Anjan Guha, divisional forest officer of Purulia forest division said that the rusty spotted cat is very rare and resides inside the deep forests and is very much fierce in nature.

Shubrajyoti Chatterjee, an NGO working in the region for nature, wildlife preservation and conservation has stated that in the forests of Kotshila leopards are also spotted in the past and now rusty spotted cats are captured in trap cameras and is a very good sign that the region is becoming very fast a refuge of wild animals.

The people of Purulia also want that the stray tiger, which has sneaked in from Jharkhand, stays in the forests of Purulia as a permanent residential tiger like the elephant herd of Dalma.

There are leopards, golden jackals, wolves, elephants, honey badger, nilgai etc in the forests of Purulia.

The forest department is now planning to set up a few more cameras to get details of the newly discovered wild animal in Purulia forests.

This smallest member of the cat family is found in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, though it is a very rare species now.

In recent years Purulia has recorded the highest green cover growth in the state.