Earlier this year the Pennsylvania Game Commission decided to allow sport hunters and commercial trappers to kill bobcats, despite having received more than 6,000 letters from Pennsylvania residents opposing the plan. The game commission plans to issue 290 permits to hunters and trappers to kill bobcats this fall. Pennsylvania Rep. Gaynor Cawley and 37 cosponsors have introduced H.B. 2534, which would prohibit the trapping and hunting of Pennsylvania's bobcats for three years. This moratorium will give lawmakers the time to collect more public input and more data on the bobcat population, a species about which we have very little scientific data.
Bobcats are shy, reclusive animals, subsisting mostly on a diet of small mammals and birds.
They pose virtually no threat to livestock and rarely are seen near human developments. Although bobcats have been protected in Pennsylvania for the last 30 years, their population is still only estimated at around 3,000 in the entire state. Considering their small population size and their reclusive nature, there is certainly no justification for establishing a bobcat hunting season. Ask them to support H.B. 2534. The legislature must pull in the reins on the state game commission.