Research overview: hybridization between wild and domestic cats near settlements

Where small wild felids overlap with free-ranging domestic cats around settlements, hybridisation and disease transmission can threaten the genetic integrity and health of wild populations. This overview synthesises genetic and disease-ecology research on introgression involving jungle cats, wildcats and other species, and the parallel risk from pathogens shared with domestic cats. It examines how proximity to villages, abundance of unmanaged domestic cats, and habitat overlap drive contact, and conservation responses including domestic-cat management. The synthesis frames the domestic cat interface as a subtle but serious threat to small wild felids in human-dominated Asian and other landscapes.