Population status of large civet cats

In 1950s, it was estimated that there were more than 200,000 civets in China. After a long period of over-hunting, the population has decreased rapidly year by year. By the early 1980s, the natural population of civet cats in China was less than 20,000. By the early 1990s, it was very rare in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, southern Anhui, Guizhou and other places, and the civet population was on the verge of extinction in China.

The investigation and analysis of animal resources in Yun Qi Nature Reserve in Jiangxi Province in 2007 showed that the civet cat was a rare species.

Even in Laos, where hunting is very serious outside China, it can be found occasionally; In Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar, it is the most common mammal tracked by cameras; But it has been extinct on a large scale in other areas, and the population trend is declining. In 1960s and 1970s, Kunming Institute of Zoology once raised 30 animals, and Hangzhou Zoo successively raised more than 10, but there was no breeding population. One of the reasons is that the fertility problem has not been really solved. Civet cats have been kept in Guangzhou Zoo for quite a long time, and they have been able to breed successfully. There is a small group of civets in Ahmedabad Zoo, India, which are raised to collect their gland secretions.