Legislation Introduced to Halt Proposed Trapping and Hunting Season On Pennsylvania's Bobcats

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Legislation Introduced to Halt Proposed Trapping and Hunting Season On Pennsylvania's Bobcats

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, Feb. 6 -/E-Wire/-- Today, Rep. Gaynor Cawley and 28 cosponsors introduced legislation to prohibit the bobcat hunting and trapping season for a period of three years.

Last year, the Pennsylvania Game Commission voted 5 to 1 to allow sport hunters and commercial trappers to kill bobcats, a species that had been protected for 30 years in Pennsylvania. The Game Commission received more than 6,000 written communications from Pennsylvania residents who opposed the new hunting and trapping season on bobcats.

"By approving a hunting and trapping season on bobcats, the Game Commission blatantly thumbed its nose at the wishes of Pennsylvania residents," said Heidi Prescott, National Director of The Fund for Animals. "Legislation is necessary to pull in the reins on this rogue agency."

The Game Commission issued 290 permits to hunters and trappers to kill bobcats, beginning last October. With only one week left in the season, 50 bobcats have been killed so far, most in leghold traps. There are only an estimated 3,000 bobcats living in Pennsylvania, and animal advocates fear that killing even a small number of animals may risk making the future of the bobcat population inviable.

Rep. Cawley's legislation will place a three-year moratorium on the bobcat hunting and trapping season, so that more data on the bobcat population can be collected and more public input from Pennsylvania citizens can be considered.

Bobcats are not overpopulated, and there is no management need for predator control. Diana Norris, Grassroots Coordinator for The Fund for Animals, said, "This new season simply capitulates to the desires of some recreational trappers and hunters who want bobcat pelts. Trapping belongs in the dark ages -- not in the new millennium."

The Fund for Animals and several Pennsylvania citizens have also filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Game Commission to halt the bobcat season. The case is currently pending in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

The Fund for Animals

Heidi Prescott of The Fund for Animals, [REDACTED-PHONE], ext. 213; or Rep. Gaynor Cawley, [REDACTED-PHONE]

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