Owston's civet  (Chrotogale owstoni)

The exact conservation status of Owston's civet is unknown, as little research has been conducted on the species in the wild (8). However, this civet is believed to be under serious threat due to its restricted range, habitat destruction, and over-hunting for its meat and body parts to be used in traditional medicine (5) (8) (9). Owston's civet is highly vulnerable to snare trapping, which is widespread across its range, due to its ground-dwelling nature (9). Civet meat is eaten and sold to restaurants, while body parts (including its bones, penis, scent gland and gall bladder) are used for traditional medicine and the beautiful pelts are sold to taxidermists or kept as trophies (10).

Owston's civet occurs in several protected areas in China, including the Dawei Mountain National Reserve, Jinping Divide National Reserve and Huanlian Mountain National Reserve (5), and ten protected areas in Vietnam, including Cuc Phuong National Park (3) (4). When five infants were taken into the care of Cuc Phuong National Park in 1995, the Owston's Palm Civet Programme was established to research the ecology and behaviour of the species before releasing them back into the park, where they would be monitored (9). After further research revealed that considerable illegal hunting continued in the National Park, increasing the risk to released animals, a captive breeding programme was initiated, which has been successfully producing and raising young most years since 1997 (9). In December 2004, the first six Owston's civets were sent to European zoos under a Breeding Loan Programme, in order to broaden and strengthen captive breeding of this species (8). The Owston's Palm Civet Programme later developed a more multifaceted approach to the conservation of this and other small carnivores in Vietnam. This included educational programmes, capacity building for forest rangers and zoo keepers, rescue, rehabilitation and development of placement options for small carnivores, captive research and field research (8). The programme has also taken in a number of civets seized by forest protection rangers from illegal wildlife traders (10). In 2005, this programme became the Small Carnivore Conservation Program (SCP) and from 2008 has become the Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program (3) (4).