Sand cats have few large terrestrial predators to fear.
Sub-adult sand cats are sometimes killed by eagle owls and in some areas of their range golden eagles, jackals and wolves occasionally kill adult sand cats. Aside from these predators the sand cat has few enemies.
This is why they are so docile around people. They are unafraid of people. For example, in Pakistan, a biologist captured several sand cats in daylight hours by “creeping up to the burrow out of the animal’s line of sight, then grabbing the cats”.
In Israel two sand cats were caught in the headlights of a car. When approached from behind they were picked up by hand. It seems they behave almost like domestic cats.
Source: Sunquists in Wild Cats of the World referring to three reference works
