A fishing cat was killed by villagers at Pukuria in Kaliganj thana of Jhenaidah Friday evening and its male partner escaped with injuries, breaking through a seize by at a sugarcane field.

The helpless female cat was beaten to death by people who rushed to a 'tiger' alarm by Saiful Islam Khan, a farmer who spotted the pair late in the afternoon.

Our Jhenidah correspondent Delwar Hossain reported yesterday that hundreds of people with machetes and spikes rushed and surrounded the cats and killed the female one.

They later left the cat hanging from a tree with its tail severed. Police, however, expressed their ignorance about the killing of the animal protected by law.

With this, the number of fishing cats killed this year rose to two.

Another cat was beaten to death by people at Tanguar haor in Sunamganj district two weeks ago, said Anisuzzaman Khan, executive director of Nature Conservation Movement, who visited the area recently.

Earlier on December 12, a pair of fishing cats was surrounded by shepherds at a village in Durgapur, Netrokona, when the female one had just given birth to five cubs.

The mother cat fought the shepherds and their dogs. The father tried to protect the cubs crouching on them near a farmer's house.

All, except the mother cat, were caught. Later, the cubs and the male cat were brought to Dhaka's Mirpur Zoo as officials from the Environment and Forest Ministry ordered steps to save them.

But the cubs died of malnutrition on December 19. Dr Shahiduzaman, who tried to save the cubs, said if they could have their mother's milk at least once they could have survived.

The male cat now shares a cage with two other cats at the Zoo. Where the fishing cat population rose to eight with this arrival.

Anisuzzaman Khan said the fishing cats are among the eight species of cat, including Royal Bengal Tiger and the Leopard, still surviving in Bangladesh.

The others are toddy cat, golden cat, palm cevet, large cevet and jungle cat, also known as khatash.

Khan said the cats are facing increasing danger from people who are ignorant about their protected status. There should be more campaign to create awareness among the people about protecting the animals, he felt.

The leopard that was brought to Mirpur Zoo from Sylhet on Thursday is a rare species. Such cats must be saved and allowed to survive in the wilds. If they are caught, they should be treated and released in the wild, Khan said.

Zoo officials reported yesterday that the leopard has chances of survival despite the severe torture it underwent for three days since capture by villagers at Zaintia in Sylhet on Sunday.

It did not touch any food yesterday as it still was in a trauma. The officials were hopeful that eventually it would take food and survived.