Civet Cats

Caught one again, the previous one was in April 2012.

For some reason, the Malayan Civet (Oriental Civet) has been frequenting our house and they can be very annoying especially at night. There have been occasions when they made their homes here too.

This was caught April 2012

Although they behave and have a slight resemblance to a cat, and Malaysians call them Civet Cats or Musang they do not belong to the cat family. They are from the Viverridae family. They have short legs and long tails and some have a special gland (civet) that secrets a special strong scent. They have been hunted for this special civet for perfume making. Honestly, some of their scent is so overpowering; not in a nice way. Some though exude, a scent similar to that of our ‘pandan’ leaves. Hearsay is that this ‘pandan’ musang is good for the curry pot.

For some reason they seem particularly attracted to our roof/ceiling. It could be that with the destruction of their habitat in the forests, they have no alternative but to make their homes in human settlements.

So far, we have entrapped about six or seven of them over a span of five to six years.

We had initially requested for assistance from Jabatan Perhilitan, but we now do it ourselves after being shown how to set up the traps. We would usually use fruits to lure them into the cage. However, we found that bananas made better baits. Once, my neighbour handed the staff from Jabatan Perhilitan a fish for bait. When we caught them, my husband would transport them (in the cages, which measures approximately 2.5’ x 1.5’x 1.5’) to some secondary jungle, beyond a river further away from our home and release them.

Just entrapped, could be the mate

Being omnivorous, they could be attracted to the fruit trees, birds and bats in our garden or that of our neighbours. These Malayan Civets usually feed during the night and their claws and teeth are very sharp. One has to be careful to avoid getting bitten when releasing them. Not to worry, they would be so relieved dashing to their freedom that, being hostile is not their preoccupation.

Do you think they could backtrack and come back? Is that why there are so many of them?

Or do they just follow a food trail ? I do hope they cannot swim well.