In 2013 CA Governor Jerry Brown passed the Bobcat Protection Act which requires the Fish and Game Commission to amend its regulations to prohibit trapping bobcats "within, and adjacent to, the boundaries of a national or state park, monument or preserve, national wildlife refuge, and any other public or private conservation area identified by the commission for protection."
The original bill would have banned all commercial and recreational trapping of bobcats within the state but because of pressure from the trapping lobby, the bill was weakened. Thankfully, Commissioner Richard Rogers requested that a complete ban on commercial/recreational trapping of bobcats be considered and vetted.
Please join Project Coyote in supporting Commissioner Rogers' enlightened and compassionate proposal. We have a unique opportunity to protect California's bobcats from the insatiable international fur market where individual bobcat pelts can sell for as much as $1,000 per pelt.
What you can do:
1- Write to the CA Fish & Game Commission and express your support for a complete ban on commercial and recreational trapping of bobcats in California (see talking points below):
Contact:
California Fish and Game Commission
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA 94244-2090
fgc@fgc.ca.gov
2- Join Project Coyote and allies at two upcoming Fish and Game Commission meetings where this issue will be considered. More information to be posted here; (public testimony is limited to 3 min.):
What: California Fish and Game Commission mtg.
When: Thursday, Feb. 12th (meeting starts @ 8am- agenda here)
Where: Resources Building Auditorium/ 1416 Ninth Street/ Sacramento, CA
What: California Fish and Game Commission mtg.
When: Thursday, April 9th
Where: Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa/ 2777 Fourth Street/ Santa Rosa, CA
3. Help keep this issue in the public eye by submitting Letters to the Editor to your local paper(s). Use the talking points below and our tips and tools for writing LTE’s.
Talking points (pl. personalize & be sure to include your complete contact information to ensure that your letter is counted in the offical record):
*Thank Commissioner Richard Rogers for requesting that consideration of a complete ban on bobcat trapping be added to the proposed rule options.
*The proposed regulatory rules to implement the Bobcat Protection Act would be both complicated and expensive to enforce. A simple ban on bobcat trapping will save the Department tens of thousands of dollars instead of creating a morass of complicated regulations and causing confusion for law enforcement, sportsmen and the public.
*Trapping bobcats is ethically indefensible, ecologically unsound, and economically unjustifiable.
*Trapping bobcats is cruel and unnecessary. Trapped bobcats are generally clubbed and/or suffocated to death (bullets damage the pelt).
*Bobcats are an important native species to California. We should not allow the trapping of our bobcats to feed the growing international fur markets in Asia and Russia where one bobcat pelt can sell upwards of $1000.
*Fewer than 100 Californians trap bobcats for the fur trade. As stewards and trustees of California's wildlife, the Commission should not cater to this tiny minority of people who enjoy killing bobcats for fun and profit.
*The value of one live bobcat to the millions who enjoy wildlife watching far outweighs the value of one dead bobcat to one fur trapper.
*As the Commission continues to work toward modernizing predator management statewide, banning commercial and recreational bobcat trapping is a step in this direction.
Thank you for speaking up for wildlife!
Camilla H. Fox
Founder & Executive Director
PLEASE SHARE THIS ALERT WITH OTHERS!
P.S.- check out our video here from the last Commission meeting where this issue was discussed.
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