Plan for bobcat season pits trappers against conservationists
It has been four years since Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials removed bobcats from the state’s endangered and threatened list.
In recent weeks, trappers, biologists, conservationists and citizens have argued over whether the state’s bobcat population has rebounded enough to merit opening a trapping season for 20182019, as the state proposed in February.
Sportsmen and women say Ohio’s bobcat population is robust enough for the animal to join foxes and coyotes as legally trappable fur-bearing animals. Opponents say there isn’t enough data yet to demonstrate that.
After a round of public open houses across the state on March 3, the state department extended an online public-comment period on its proposals for bobcat trapping and other 2018-2019 hunting seasons until March 31. A statewide hearing on the proposed rules and season dates was rescheduled last week to April 2 at 9 a.m. at the District One office of ODNR’s Division of Wildlife at 1500 Dublin Road. A list of all proposed rule changes can be found at wildohio.gov.
The Ohio Wildlife Council, an eight-member board that must first approve all proposed rules and regulations from the Division of Wildlife, is to vote on May 2 after considering public input. People who want to provide comments at council meetings are asked to register at least two days in advance by calling 614-265-6304. All comments are required to be three minutes or less.
A century ago, bobcats were only beginning to reappear in Ohio after having vanished in 1850 as settlers drained swamps and cleared forests.
In 2017, Ohio reported 499 verified bobcat sightings in 46 counties, mostly through trail camera pictures or videos. That figure includes 82 road-killed bobcats and 12 incidentally trapped animals.
“There’s enough there,” said Keith Daniels, an Ohio State Trappers Association officer since 1980. “We don’t want to see a resource go to waste just because someone thinks we shouldn’t.”
ODNR’s proposal for a 2018 season would limit it to Nov. 10 through January 2019 and to the state’s southeastern region. The season would close when trappers hit a 20-cat quota in a block of southern counties and a 40-cat limit in an eastern patch.
For more than a decade, the agency has relied on radio collars, camera surveys and the collection of roadkill to learn about bobcats’ range, movement and survival rates, said Mike Reynolds, wildlife management and research executive administrator for ODNR.
By forcing trappers to submit all carcasses for research purposes, the proposal would provide biological data for ongoing research.
“We’re confident the population is secure. We’re not trying to reduce the number of bobcats,” Reynolds said. “This is a way for us to get samples — some of the best data we can get comes from a trapping season.”
But some people, such as Athens-area artist and amateur naturalist Sarah Macleod, worry that trapping could endanger bobcats again after a decades-long comeback. Since Macleod started a Save Ohio’s Bobcats II Facebook page in late January, the group has amassed more than 1,200 members.
“They’re not even fully recovered,” she said of Ohio’s bobcat population, “and they want to start trapping it. I was just shocked it happened so quickly.”
In October 2017, an ODNR research report warned of the unpredictable consequences of prematurely permitting a bobcat-trapping season.
“While it is widely acknowledged that the population is rebounding in Ohio ... there is little information about the status of the population, the numerical trends, the rate of population expansion,” the document says. “Such information is critical before decisions are taken on opening a trapping season.”
Last fall, the Division of Wildlife awarded a four-year, $245,000 grant to Ohio University researchers for bobcat research.
“We want to know how many bobcats are there. We’re trying to put it all together like a big puzzle,” said Viorel Popescu, the lead researcher and an assistant professor of conservation biology at Ohio University. “It’s literally like herding cats.”
The study, set for June and July, will use specially trained dogs to sniff out bobcat scat in southern and eastern Ohio. Popescu said studying any carcasses harvested during a potential trapping season is not currently part of the project’s agreed scope.
He hopes the study will help inform debates over whether bobcat populations are healthy enough to harvest sustainably.
“I would love to have a solid answer, but it’s a tough question,” Popescu said. “It’s just as much about what society wants.”
Heather Cantino, who lives near Athens, is among those speaking out against the trapping season online and at public hearings.
“People here, I know, are thrilled to spot a bobcat,” she said.
Cantino and other opponents of the proposal say they see it as an example of ODNR acting in the interest of hunters and trappers.