Bobcat hunting & trapping (using cruel wire snare traps and jaw-toothed leg traps) w/ new quota of 400 individuals can lead to complete eradication of bobcats, please mail your comments if you oppose hunting/trapping our beloved bobcats!
Most people do not want them hunted or trapped. 71% of Hoosiers opposed trapping and hunting bobcats.
Lack of evidence. DNR has shown NO official population survey has been conducted. ZERO research done. This means there is no way to know what the actual bobcat population is. They admitted this in 2019.
Bobcats are integral to the health of Indiana’s ecosystems. Along with other predators like foxes and coyotes, they control populations of prey species. Without bobcats, other predators are at risk of overpopulating, further disrupting the food chain and ecosystem health.
A bobcat's main diet is rodents, rabbits, and hares. By keeping rodent populations in check, zoonotic diseases rodents cause like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and Alpha-gal Syndrome, and Lyme disease, are reduced. The economic burden of diagnosed Lyme disease is close to $1 billion per year in the US, according to NIH. Diagnosed Lyme disease costs the state of Indiana $1,200 per patient. Fewer predators mean more rodents and more zoonotic diseases.
Wire neck snare traps and jaw-toothed leg traps are cruel and painful. Other untargeted species including people's pets have been caught in them. Bobcats and other animals can remain in these painful traps for days before hunters check them.
Bobcats were endangered in Indiana from 1969 until 2005. Conservation efforts led to their population increase. When the initial LSA Document #24-383 to trap bobcats was proposed, over 3,000 opposing comments were sent in and DNR still passed the killing quota of 250. THEIR OWN POPULATION MODELS show that a quota of 400 and over will lead to bobcat eradication...yet NOW they want to bump that quota up to 400. LOL WHAT.
Hoosiers who want to weigh in on the proposed expansion of bobcat hunting in Indiana can do so until May 19. Please make your voices heard! We cannot give up. The quota needs to be 0. There is just not enough evidence trapping/hunting of any bobcat! DNR has failed to provide any statistical or scientific analysis of bobcat populations.
Further research is needed to determine if there even is an unhealthy population size that requires control!!!!!
Emailed comments must be sent to lianderson@dnr.in.gov. Only comments sent to that address will be officially considered.
Comments can also be mailed to the following address:
LSA Document #26-98 Bobcat Hunting
Lisa L. Anderson
Natural Resources Commission
C/O Department of Natural Resources, Legal Division
Indiana Government Center South
402 West Washington Street, Room W255-A
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2273
Another method to submit comments online for Indiana locals is through this portal: https://www.in.gov/nrc/rules/rulemaking-docket/
A public hearing will also be held on May 19 at 12:30 p.m. at the Fort Harrison State Park, Garrison Conference Center, Blue Heron Ballroom, 6002 North Post Road in Indianapolis.