The California Fish and Game Commission voted 3-2 Wednesday to ban bobcat trapping statewide. In 2013, the California legislature—spurred on by Joshua Tree residents who said trapping had sharply reduced the number of bobcats near the park—passed the Bobcat Protection Act that created buffer zones around state and national parks where bobcat trapping is prohibited. The Act gave the Fish and Game Commission the authority to regulate which areas should be off limits to bobcat trapping. As the commission started working on the regulations for the buffer zones this year, the commissioners received an enormous amount of public input pushing for an outright ban on bobcat trapping. However, the state’s 100 bobcat trappers, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, argued that bobcats are not an endangered species and that the commission’s outright ban overstepped its authority. The commission’s controversial decision to ban all bobcat trapping in California must first be approved by the state Office of Administrative Law and then be submitted to the Secretary of State, but proponents of the ban expect it will take effect before the trapping season opens in November. The new regulations only prohibit bobcat trapping; hunting is still permissible.
FISH AND GAME COMMISSION VOTES TO BAN BOBCAT TRAPPING IN THE STATE
