“A stuffed bobcat head is considered a highly prestigious trophy,” says a 2015 Newsmax article on winter hunting in Maine. “A fresh winter snowfall simplifies the hunt. A bobcat’s footprints can be easily tracked.”
If a current proposal by Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is passed, trophy hunters will get an extra week in February, state-wide, to pursue the small cats. During the winter months, bobcats are commonly chased by thrill-seekers on snowmobiles following a pack of GPS-collared hounds. The frenzy ends when the exhausted animal is cornered by the hounds, after which it is either shot at close range or bludgeoned to death (bullet holes can mar its fur).
Beavers have also been targeted for an additional two weeks of trapping in IF&W’s proposal, although existing season dates for beaver trapping already exceed six months in some wildlife management districts … with no bag limit.
Wildlife advocates requested a public hearing on the proposal, which was held Sept. 26 in Portland. IF&W’s commissioner and a phalanx of other department personnel faced a room packed with vocal opponents of the measure from every animal protection organization in Maine. Trapper/hunters were also well represented, but not a single member of the press covered the hearing.
Bobcats are about twice the size of the average house cat, so their categorization as “big game” animals in Maine is puzzling. Beautiful and reclusive, bobcats are not pursued for food, but for their fur, or for wall-hangings. Bobcats can currently be trapped and hunted, without limit, for three and a-half months.
The reasoning behind IF&W’s proposal suggests appeasement of hunter/trappers who were denied permission last year to use killer-type traps (traps designed to crush the neck or spinal columns of bobcats) in order for Maine to protect the Canada Lynx, a federally-listed threatened species. A close cousin of the bobcat, the lynx can easily be misidentified by trapper/hunters because of their close resemblance.
Considering that a federal lawsuit brought against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service for allowing Maine “incidental take” of Canada lynx is still unresolved, the timing of the season-extension proposal is provocative.
The IF&W asserts “The current metrics used to track bobcat populations in the state suggest a stable to increasing population.” When these “metrics” were requested, however, the department provided management plans from Utah and Nevada, and bobcat tooth data from Nevada.
Apparently, Maine does not have a bobcat monitoring or management plan, other than an annual count of bobcat pelts, and the count from last year is a concern.
IF&W’s 2015 Management Report indicates the number of bobcats killed last season declined to a 10-year low, which it cannot account for: “How much of this decline … can be attributed to an actual decline in the bobcat population or a change in trapping/hunting effort is still an unanswered question.”
Why is the agency that is tasked with preserving, protecting and enhancing Maine’s wildlife attempting to appease bobcat hunters by providing them an additional week of “opportunity” when the population may well be in steep decline?
Beavers in Maine are trapped with underwater drowning sets, including snares, steel leghold traps and colony traps. Killer-type traps are also employed. Drowning beavers is cruel; the animals can hold their breath underwater for up to 20 minutes.
IF&W often claims its wildlife management decisions are science-based, but beaver “management” is comprised of extensive seasons of unlimited trapping. The department does not have any scientifically-based determination of the population level of beavers.
Beavers play a vital ecological role throughout Maine’s watersheds. It is a gross oversight to write them off as unworthy of proper study and conservation when drought conditions have recently been documented throughout a significant portion of the state. Non-lethal tools for beaver management exist and they should be aggressively pursued.
Public comments on IF&W’s season extension proposals may be submitted until Thursday, Oct. 6.
Karen Coker of Cape Elizabeth and Elaine Tselikis of South Portland are co-leaders of WildWatch Maine, a recently-formed grassroots wildlife advocacy group.
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