Government Gone Wild

Before Silicon Valley, Hollywood and even the Gold Rush, fur trapping was the industry that brought people to California.

In a matter of months, barring unforeseen procedural roadblocks, trapping bobcats in the Golden State will be illegal.

The state’s Fish and Game Commission voted 3-2 last week to ban the activity amid complaints the practice is cruel to wild animals and endangers the species.

But critics contend the commission acted without scientific justification.

“Our Fish and Game Commission has become the political arm of animal rights (activists) out here,” said Mercer Lawing, a board member of the California Trappers Association. “It’s kind of sad when people dress up children in paper plates with bobcat faces presenting sympathy to the public.”

Environmentalists and animal rights activists, who long have sought a ban, praised the ruling. The Humane Society even invoked Cecil the lion.

Related: Cecil and Cecile

“Shy and elusive creatures, bobcats are solely killed for their fur, which is sold to overseas markets in Russia and China,” the group said in a prepared statement. “In the wake of the tragic death of Cecil the lion, the public has never been more aware that killing an animal for its pelt is no worse than for a head and hide to decorate a trophy room.”

Project Bobcat, a California organization, launched a petition drive in support of the ban. It also urged authorities to reject a compromise proposal by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife that would have confined bobcat trapping to areas with high-density bobcat populations.

The group raised the specter of overseas fur sales as well.

“As a result, trappers have been targeting the boundaries of national parks — luring the cats out of these safe havens and into their deadly traps,” the group stated on its website.

“Nobody really makes a living trapping fur anywhere in the country,” said Lawing of the California Trapping Association. “It’s largely recreational. Lots of families trap together. Nobody traps full time.”

Lawing of the California Trapping Association blasted those accusations as false. “The entire thing has been one lie after another,” he said.

Lawing, who runs cagingbobcats.com, also disputed the notion that greed drives trappers. He said about 450 people in California have trapping licenses, and half have pest management businesses. He said some 100 to 200 people trap bobcats recreationally.

“Nobody really makes a living trapping fur anywhere in the country,” he said. “It’s largely recreational. Lots of families trap together. Nobody traps full time.”

Contrary to depictions of bobcats as cute and cuddly animals, Lawing said they are, in fact, dangerous predators. He said there are hundreds if not thousands of calls a year reporting injuries or damage caused by the animals.

Attacks on humans are rare but do occur. An emaciated bobcat, for instance, bit a 65-year-old woman while she was sitting on a bench at a Solvang, Calif., resort last October.

Critics of the trapping ban noted that the Department of Fish & Wildlife never updated a bobcat population count that was last completed decades ago. Lawing said that estimate, between 72,000 and 74,000, was challenged and upheld in court. He said the number of bobcats trapped each year as far too low to impact the health of the population.

“We do know that bobcats are prolific in the state. They’re not endangered. There’s not a shortage of them.”

“There’s nothing about this that is fair,” he said. “It’s all politics.”

Jordan Traverso, a spokesperson for the department, said she could not provide an estimate for the number of bobcats but agreed the population is healthy.

“We do know that bobcats are prolific in the state. They’re not endangered,” she said. “There’s not a shortage of them.”

Despite last week’s vote, the bobcat ban cannot move forward until a number of procedural steps occur; those include an assessment of public comment and the economic impact of the regulations. The trapping ban likely would not take effect until January 1, 2016, in the middle of the bobcat season, though authorities may decide to delay the new rules until after the trapping season.

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