Earlier today, in a meeting held at Fortuna’s River Lodge, the California Fish & Game Commission voted to ban bobcat trapping statewide. 

As the Outpost reported a few weeks back, the ban was one of several options on the table as ways to implement Assembly Bill 1213, aka the Bobcat Protection Act of 2013. The law was passed in the wake of a controversy near Joshua Tree National Park. Trappers in the region had been trapping bobcats in cages in order to sell their fur in a market fueled by foreign demand, particularly in Russia and China.

The commission also considered taking a zone-based approach, in which bobcat trapping would have been prohibited only in certain regions of the state. But that approach was rejected.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors opposed the ban, excepting only Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace. The board majority argued the ban would represent an overreach of the commission’s authority, and it also felt trappers should have been consulted. Environmental and animal-rights groups, meanwhile, were advocating the all-out ban on moral, ecological and fiscal grounds.

The ban does not affect bobcat hunting, which remains legal, nor does it prevent the trapping of nuisance bobcats, such as those threatening livestock. 

The Humane Society issued the following press release within minutes of the decision:

Regulations to prohibit bobcat trapping across the state will be enacted, according to a vote by the California Fish and Game Commission. The regulations will implement Assemblymember Richard Bloom’s, D-Santa Monica, Assembly Bill 1213. Nicole Paquette, vice president Wildlife Protection for The Humane Society of the United States is issuing the following response:

“The Humane Society of the United States applauds the California Fish and Game Commission to extend further protections for iconic bobcats. Shy and elusive creatures, bobcats are solely killed for their fur, which is sold to overseas markets in Russia and China. 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. This decision is a much-needed step in the right direction, and we thank Assemblymember Bloom for his ongoing leadership to protect California’s bobcats from this cruel and unnecessary practice.”