The Corbett Foundation (TCF) on Tuesday got the first photographic record of the rare Rusty-spotted cat in the camera trap. The rusty-spotted cat is one of the smallest wild cat in the world and its arboreal behavior makes the species hard to detect. The area where the cat was spotted is also said to be a wildlife corridor but faces high anthropogenic pressures such as increasing agriculture, grazing, and hunting. The location where the rare cat was spotted is close to the place where a leopard was shot dead in Murbad three years back for killing humans.

Zeenal Vajrinkar, Wildlife Biologist along with TCF, did the camera trapping in the Murbad landscape in 2018. The brief surveys were done in Thitbi and Sonavale areas in Murbad area that comes under the jurisdiction of Thane Forest Division. The Rusty-spotted cat was spotted in camera trap in Thitbi area. The report that has been submitted to Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Dr. Jitendra Ramgaonkar contains findings and observations about these areas.