Pallas’s cat  (Otocolobus manul)

Pallas’s cat has long been hunted for its luxurious fur, with large annual harvests in China and Mongolia (5). With declining numbers in the wild and increasing restrictions, international trade in the animal’s pelt has thankfully declined in recent years (1). Significant threats also exist in the form of large scale poisoning of pika and vole populations, an important prey item. This occurs in parts of the Russian Federation, where the pika is considered vermin that carries and transmits the plague, and in parts of China, where it is thought to compete with domestic stock for food (5). Pallas’s cats, and particularly its young kittens, are also highly susceptible to toxomoplasmosis, a disease caught from the rodents on which it feeds (8). While there is currently low incidence of disease in its habitat, this could increase with climate change and global warming and give cause for concern. Lastly, habitat fragmentation and development is an increasing issue within the range of Pallas’s cats. This may result in local extinction of this already rare species through habitat destruction and increased incidence of domestic dogs which prey heavily on Pallas’s cats (6). Human alteration of the steppe ecosystem is also likely to result in adverse changes to the ecological community in which it lives (3).

Hunting of this species is prohibited in Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (1). Its listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) strictly regulates international trade of its pelt (4), although many of the countries in which Pallas’s cat is found are short of funds for adequate law enforcement and protection (3).