FISH AND GAME COMMISSION VOTES TO BAN BOBCAT TRAPPING STATEWIDE

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East County News Service

Photo: Creative Commons image by www.ForestWander.com

August 5, 2015 (Sacramento)-The California Fish and Game Commission has voted 3-2 to ban bobcat trapping statewide. The decision today completely bans bobcat trapping in California, with the exception of trapping bobcats that prey on livestock.

The ban will become effective after approval by the state Office of Administrative Law and submission to the Secretary of State. The regulations may be effective before the start of the 2015-2016 bobcat trapping season.

Commission President Jack Baylis and Commissioners Anthony Williams and Eric Sklar voted in favor of a statewide ban. Commission Vice President Jim Kellogg and Commissioner Jacqueline Hostler-Carmesin voted against it.

The ban follows several years of study and a finding that in 2012, the year prior to legislation that proposed the ban, 1,500 bobcats were killed for their pelts in California, fueled by high prices being paid in China for the fur. The last full study of the state’s bobcat population is decades old, leading to concerns that bobcats are being depleted.


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Comments

Time for "Game" to be renamed?

Fish and Game Commission. Is it time to consider renaming "Game" to something like "Wildlife"? Game implies a contest done for entertainment or amusement, and the recent news of Cecil the lion may have been "game" for the hunter, but not amusing to most others.