Aug. 03--A long-running public feud between wildlife protectionists and fur trappers will come to a head Wednesday when the California Fish and Game Commission is expected to adopt one of two controversial options: a statewide ban on bobcat trapping, or a partial ban covering roughly half the state.
The options were devised to implement the Bobcat Protection Act of 2013, which directed the five-member commission to prohibit bobcat trapping adjacent to national and state parks, and requires that trapping programs, if allowed to continue elsewhere, be self-funded.
But they offer little breathing room in the stormy clash of values over the future of commercial bobcat trapping in California's remaining wildlands.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which enforces regulations adopted by the commission, has recommended a "zonal approach," or partial ban, which would allow the state's 200 licensed trappers to continue harvesting bobcat pelts in designated areas where high-value bobcat populations exist. Those areas would include much of Northern and Southern California.
Opponents, including several environmental organizations, a dozen state legislators and Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz doubt that a program of continued trapping can be self-funded, a fiscal requirement of the bobcat trapping law.
Under existing regulations, trappers pay $113.75 for a license. Under the new law, which the department wants to see implemented before the trapping season begins in November, they will have to pay a bobcat trapping validation fee of $1,325.
The department anticipates that the increased fees will reduce the number of licensed trappers by about 20%. Critics say the cost of implementing and enforcing trapping zones will be several times greater than the department's estimated price tag of $212,406.
"The department seems to want the commission to give bobcat trappers a golden parachute at taxpayers' expense," said Brendan Cummings, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity. "That's illegal and at odds with the values of the vast majority of people in California."
The California Trappers Assn., however, has its own problems with a partial ban. It recently asked the commission to delay action until after state wildlife authorities secure funds to complete the first survey of bobcats in 36 years.
"We believe the commission should not take action until they can fund a scientific survey," said Hector Barajas, a spokesman for the association. "Without that information, we'll be looking at implementation of a state law based on mere opinion."
