Grappling with the increased killing of bobcats for fur pelts to supply coat-makers in Asia, Colorado wildlife commissioners on Thursday rejected a citizen petition to outlaw the trapping and trophy hunting of the animals in the state.
The commissioners said science drove their decision — namely a lack of evidence that harvesting bobcats at current levels is harmful to the species.
Scores of residents testified on either side of the proposed ban during a Colorado Parks and Wildlife hearing held in Grand Junction, the latest clash as the West’s booming urban population challenges entrenched values around relations with wildlife.
Trappers told the commissioners how they used money from sold bobcat pelts to support their families and attend college.
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Wildlife advocates, including some hunters, invoked morality. “We believe bobcats should be protected,” the Humane Society’s state chapter president Aubyn Royall said.
Proponents of the proposed ban, which would have prohibited trapping and trophy hunting of bobcats, submitted a petition with 208,000 signatures in support.
Licensed hunters and trappers in Colorado killed 1,978 bobcats last year, nearly three times the 680 killed in 2004, a majority for pelts, according to CPW records reviewed by The Denver Post. Annual U.S. exports of bobcat pelts top 30,000.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have identified robust prices for pelts as the motivation for the increased killing. Bobcat-fur coats made in China and Russia sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Before the meeting at which commissioners considered the ban, CPW biologists had sent an advisory memo that said, “To the extent the commission is interested in the division’s opinion, we do not believe there is adequate scientific evidence to support the petition.”
Commissioner Robert Bray made a motion for the denial. “We must manage all wildlife,” he said. “There’s no scientific evidence that anything we are doing (is hurting the species). Our professionals are helping bobcats, not hurting bobcats.”
However, Bray added, “we must all strive to be ethical in our manners of take” — referring to how trapped bobcats are killed.
Colorado’s bobcat population is thought to be stable, though wildlife managers have observed slight declines in parts of the state. No comprehensive population count has been done, due to difficulty and cost — similar to the situation with mountain lions and lynx.
“We continually monitor harvest on huntable species, population numbers, habitat availability and impacts from urban sprawl, disease, recreation and development on all animals,” CPW spokeswoman Lauren Truitt said.
Telluride veterinarian Christine Canaldo petitioned the agency last November to consider a ban.
“I’d like to see bobcats thriving. We don’t have enough data on the bobcat population. This is the right thing to do,” Canaldo said in an interview.
“A ban on bobcat hunting and trapping would benefit Colorado economically, ecologically and ethically. Bobcat hunters and trappers are draining a natural resource solely for personal profit,” she said. “Colorado’s natural resources are a public trust and should be protected for all Coloradans to enjoy.”
Hunting groups led by Safari Club International fought the ban.
At the Colorado Trappers and Predator Hunters Association’s most recent fur auction, prices for bobcat pelts averaged $189 and ranged up to $720, according to the association’s posted data.
“It is actually animal rights that they are concerned about,” Dan Gates, president of the association, told commissioners at Thursday’s hearing, urging reliance on state wildlife biological assessments.
“This is about letting the experts do their jobs,” Gates said. “There’s never been a species that has ever been extirpated” — destroyed — “by sanctioned and highly regulated trapping or fishing.”
“As a sportsman that traps and predator-hunts, I could say it is not about the kill, not about the harvest,” he added. “It is about a primal instinct that leads to the wilderness for all of us… while we take, we are, at the same time, giving back.”
Pro-trapping resident Chip Yeager challenged wildlife advocates’ accusations of inhumane treatment, including suggestions that trappers enjoyed harming bobcats. Most trappers use a .22-caliber bullet to the head to kill bobcats caught in traps, not strangulation or drowning as some ban proponents alleged, Yeager said.
Young bobcats no longer depend on their mothers when hunting season opens in December, he said. “And you are required to check your traps every 24 hours.”
Ban proponents also argued that prohibiting bobcat trapping and hunting would bolster the survival of lynx, a threatened species protected under the Endangered Species Act that Colorado in 1999 proactively re-introduced after lynx had dwindled away.
Both cats have tufted ears and, while lynx may be bigger with larger feet, their fur can appear similar depending on the season.
CPW biologists disputed that argument. They estimated there are 100 to 200 lynx in Colorado and declared the lynx population to be stable.
“There’s no scientific evidence that bobcat hunting or trapping has an impact on lynx populations in Colorado,” CPW spokesman Jason Clay said. “As with all hunting in Colorado, CPW regulates the harvest and requires hunters and trappers to bring bobcats into an office for personnel to inspect and mark each animal.”
