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Dear Editor:
This fall, on Nov. 8, 2025, Indiana opened its first bobcat trapping season in modern history, allowing up to 250 bobcats to be killed before the season ends on Jan. 31. This decision contradicts conservation ethics and common sense.
Bobcats were once nearly extinct in our state, and their return should be a cause for cautious optimism, not a new opportunity for recreational trapping. The suffering caused by steel-jawed leghold traps and choking wire snares is immense, and countless non-target animals – wildlife and pets alike – are also caught.
The Natural Resources Commission’s approval of this outrageously high bobcat killing quota represents a failure of leadership. Indiana citizens overwhelmingly opposed bobcat trapping during public comment periods, yet their voices were ignored in favor of a small group of trappers (less than 4,000 Hoosiers statewide) who wish to profit by selling fur to overseas markets.
We should be protecting these magnificent creatures, not repeating the mistakes that once drove them to near extinction.
Jessica Irvine
Carmel
That the State would sanction such a particularly cruel method of harvest says a lot about who we are as a society .
It’s also not the first time that Natural Resources Commission ruled opposite of strong public opinion & presented facts.
The voting majority of the NRC are political appointees.
We have several on our family farm. The Bobcats are getting less afraid of humans. Which my concern is my 96-yr old mother that goes out to get her mail, my very young grandchildren out playing. Bobcats are taking down coyotes to eat. What is next Mom, grandson? Take them down in a more humane way.