African Golden Cat Conservation Status
The African Golden Cat (Caracal aurata) is currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. This conservation status reflects ongoing declines in its habitat and inferred population decrease. In Uganda specifically, the species is listed as Endangered on their national red list.
The African Golden Cat is found across equatorial Africa, primarily in moist tropical forests. Its range spans many countries, including Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Uganda and Kenya. It was also confirmed in Tanzania, extending its known range farther south.
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Why are African Golden Cats Threatened?
The main threats to African Golden Cats are deforestation, snaring, infrastructure development and inadequate protection (IUCN CatSG).
The African Golden Cat is forest-dependent, meaning it needs relatively intact, dense forest to survive well. As humans clear forests, build roads, and encroach into once-remote areas, these cats lose their habitat and are more exposed. At the same time, snaring from the bushmeat trade not only kills golden cats directly but also reduces their prey base, creating a cascading effect.
Even though golden cats can survive in logged forests, especially well-managed ones, and may be more adaptable than once thought, the balance is delicate. Their relatively low densities in human-impacted areas suggest that without strong protection and sustainable land-use planning, populations could decline further.
Finally, because they are so poorly understood, there's a real risk that declines could go unnoticed until they become severe. Conservation efforts must focus not only on protecting habitat but also on community engagement (e.g., reducing snaring, building anti-poaching awareness) and rigorous scientific monitoring.
Conservation in Action
Here is some of the recent conservation news about African Golden Cats from AGCCA / Embaka and partners included in the monthly SWCCF newsletter:
First record of a living African Golden Cat in Angola
by Eduardo Lutondo, Angola, African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance
June 2026
Finally, the situation has already changed for the African golden cat in Angola. In the past, African golden cats in Angola have only been known in bushmeat markets. With my team members Timoteo Julio and Graça Catuti and in partnership with the African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance (AGCCA) and Fundação Kissama, we have been working for three years to record the living African golden cat in Angola.
We started the search at Maïombe National Park following a report of the African golden cat in an adjacent bushmeat market in the Cabinda province. After more than nine months of monitoring using a trail camera, I failed to find the African golden cat. But as Jim has suggested, passion, patience, and persistence are required for anyone conserving every species of small wild cat.
In 2024, I received new information from the local communities of an African golden cat occurrence in the Uíge region in the bushmeat market. With that information, we got a bit closer to our goal of finding the mysterious cat. During our investigation, we found additional information from the local hunters that killed two. We immediately set 12 trail cameras at Serra do Pingano in Uíge province in northern of Angola. After 144 days, I returned to the cameras. What I found was a video of the African golden cat my team and I had been searching for.
Our video is the first record ever recorded of a living African golden cat in Angola. Our passion, patience, persistence had paid off.
Now the priority is to continue to expand our community-led conservation program to mitigate bushmeat hunting and its threat to the African golden cat in Angola. Bushmeat hunting and trade remain key threats, as evidenced by reports of African golden cat specimens in bushmeat markets in Angola. Thanks to the efforts of AGCCA's partners in other countries, we have a good change to change the future for the African golden cat in Angola.
We wish to thank the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund and the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation for supporting our efforts.
Conserving African golden cats means solving people's everyday problems
by Badru Mugerwa, Uganda, Embaka
April 2026
Our conservation approach addresses the most pervasive conservation threat to the African golden cat in Africa: Bushmeat consumption and trade. Stemming from limited employment opportunities, the root cause of poaching is poverty, resulting in households struggling to meet minimal nutritional and health care needs.
Unlike typical conservation practices such as law enforcement that punish perpetrators with arrests and/or fines, our conservation approach directly tackles the two main causes of bushmeat hunting: The need for food and money.
Arresting and fining the average rural village poacher is a fundamentally flawed approach to wildlife conservation. When the father is arrested or fined more than can be afforded, the eldest son must turn to poaching to make ends meet. Because he has less experience, the next brother might join him. The arrest of the father has created two problems: Enemies of conservation and additional poachers.
Simply put, arrests and fines for hunting out of sheer hunger for food, creates more enemies for the African golden cat. Through Embaka, the Ugandan partner of the African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance, we have helped establish community-managed, financially feasible, locally accepted, alternative sources of household income and protein to bushmeat through smallholder livestock farms involving 1,237 households.
This innovative activity is implemented as a livestock seed bank in which a female goat or pig is given to a hunting family with the pledge that they stop hunting. When the goat or pig produces offspring, the family agrees to donate one offspring to their neighbor. This way, the whole community benefits, not just the hunting families.
The formal agreement between community members and Embaka comes with Embaka's complete trust that participants will abide by the agreement. Trust places an exceptionally heavy burden on participants who genuinely desire to keep their word.
By acting to aid community members more friends are made for the African golden cat. The small credit and savings groups we started are diversifying income for 2,097 families. To incentivize grassroots support for conservation, we have novel mobile dental clinics to provide free oral health and dental care to 2,388 families. By providing beehive boxes, community members are producing and selling honey. Through these livelihood improving initiatives, we have made 11,934 friends of the African golden cat at 34 habitats for these magnificent small wild cats. These new friends have stopped hunting and often travel to adjacent villages to explain our conservation program. At a recent community meeting, the headman of the village explained they no longer "steal from the forest." Truly humbled, I had to step aside to collect my thoughts.
No African golden cats left behind.
Hope, Resilience, and Conservation in Action in Ongo Community Forest, Uganda
by Byron Ssemambo, Uganda, African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance
March 2026
It is harvesting season in Ongo Community Forest and there are big smiles across our 15 apiary household beneficiaries. Thanks to the community-led beekeeping initiative supported by the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Embaka, and the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, farmers are now harvesting honey from their Kenya Top Bar (KTB) hives for the very first time this year.
What started as a conservation-livelihood intervention is now translating into tangible household income. On average, each KTB hive is producing approximately 3.5 litres of honey per season. With local market prices ranging between $10–$12 per litre of pure honey, farmers are beginning to see meaningful financial returns. For households managing multiple hives, this represents a significant boost to income thus supporting school fees, food security, and medical expenses for their family. As the headman of the village said, we are no longer stealing from the forest. As alternative livelihoods become viable, reliance on bushmeat hunting continues to decline. Ongo Community Farmers report increased pride not only in their honey production but also in their role as agents of Ongo's forest ecosystem.
From hive installation to first harvest, this milestone marks a powerful step forward. The buzz in Ongo is more than just bees, it is hope, resilience, and conservation in action for the African golden cat.
New National Park for African Golden Cat
by Emmanuel Akampurira, Uganda, African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance
November 2025
Embaka has been working in Echuya Forest Reserve (EFR) in south-western Uganda for the past four years to support the conservation of the African golden cat (AGC) and its habitat. EFR covers an area of 34 km² and is a vital habitat within the Albertine Rift biodiversity hotspot. EFR hosts endemic, rare, and globally threatened flora and fauna, including the AGC.
When Embaka and its partners conducted surveys of Echuya Forest in 2015 and 2018, our trail cameras recorded AGC. The surveys also revealed a high prevalence of human activity, including poaching. Human activity was a significant threat to mammals like the AGC. Extirpation of the Leopard here many years ago made AGC the top predator in this ecosystem; most of the identified threats were more likely to impact AGC. Based on the findings of these surveys, Embaka, together with communities and local leaders, designed interventions to mitigate these threats.
It's important to note that these interventions were not just top-down decisions but were designed in collaboration with the communities. The interventions proposed by community members included support for livestock, high-value vegetable cultivation, and assistance with Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs). These initiatives aimed to provide alternatives to bushmeat, increase household income, and improve overall livelihoods, as our findings indicated that poverty significantly drives threats to the AGC. Another key intervention Embaka was involved in was advocating for more resources and improved management of EFR. The forest, at the time, was managed by the National Forest Authority (NFA), which had limited resources and capacity to manage EFR. Therefore, Embaka recommended and advocated for an increased protection status from a forest reserve to a national park.
Embaka is pleased to share with readers of the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation eNewsletter that in 2026 Echuya Forest will be designated as a national park. This significant development is a testament to the success of our collective efforts. With this new status, the forest will receive increased protection which will further strengthen our conservation initiatives. Moving forward, our community-based activities will be strengthened by the initiatives of the national park management which focuses on community engagement in managing the forest. This collaboration will not only broaden the reach and impact of conservation efforts but also offer hope for the protection of the African Golden Cat and the enhancement of livelihoods in Uganda.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the communities we work with, the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, and the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation for their generous support.
Visit the African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance
Turning poachers into African golden cat conservationists
by Irene Natukunda, Uganda, African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance
October 2025
A community-led conservation initiative is transforming former poachers into stewards of the African golden cat around Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Uganda.
Since 2024, our project has mobilized 123 former poachers through targeted awareness trainings, distributed 20 ewes now increased to 36, and established two community-led loan programs with 216 members. These interventions offer sustainable alternatives to bushmeat hunting and promote income generation.
A remarkable turning point came when the group chairman, once a poacher, pledged to provide free basic veterinary services to all project livestock, an inspiring sign of deep community commitment. With ongoing support from park authorities, these locally-driven efforts have strengthened protection not only for the elusive African golden cat but also its entire habitat.
We hope to expand this successful model across neighboring communities and secure lasting impact for the African golden cat.
Visit the African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance
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