No Bobcat Hunting (IL ONLY)

Hunters keep trying to over rule what the vast majority of you want.  Hunters want to kill bobcats.  Most people want them to live in peace in the forest.

After you asked Gov. Quinn to veto the hunt, he looked at the data himself and saw that the State’s bobcat populations must continue to be protected for everyone’s interest. Despite his efforts to protect nature, in January 2015, bobcat hunting and trapping bills were introduced again.

Bobcat photo by Stan Mysliwiec

Bobcats are elusive and their populations are difficult to monitor with good research methods, making them particularly susceptible to over exploitation. If DNR has only unreliable population monitoring data, and wildlife professionals have not had a chance to develop a plan to manage for healthy populations, the State should not condone hunting.

Bobcats are killed for their pelts, which bring $90 a piece in the international market to China and other overseas countries.  CITES reports that more than 57,000 bobcats die and exported this way each year.  This is a cruel way to kill off our natural treasures to fill an un necessary demand for fur trimmed garments abroad.

The consensus among some wildlife biologists is that the Illinois bobcat population (estimated at a mere 3,000 animals concentrated in the southern 17 counties) can only withstand a hunt of 100-200. Some argue, this will even be too much to allow for growth and dispersion into other suitable habitat in the State.

Don’t let blood thirsty killers dictate prudent recovery of this ecologically important and beautiful species. Tell your lawmakers to oppose the bobcat hunting bills HB 352 and SB 106.

We make it easy here:

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