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Dear Editor:
Bobcats, Indiana’s last remaining native wildcat, are finally making a comeback. The shy, elusive critters are rarely seen as they go about their work of hunting rabbits, mice, and other rodents. Bobcats perform an essential (and free!) service to our backyards, farms, and ecosystems, and they are a delight to observe if you’re lucky enough to spot one.
Given the benefits of letting bobcats return and thrive in our state, it’s difficult to understand why there’s a bill currently before the state legislature that would open a trophy hunting and trapping season on Indiana’s bobcats. The bill, S.B. 241, would charge residents just $15 for a license to “take” a bobcat. Bobcats are not hunted for food; they are killed solely for trophies, for fun, or to sell their skins to the global fur trade. The steel leghold traps used on bobcats leave them in pain and suffering in the elements for hours.
Our treasured bobcats don’t deserve to be cruelly, needlessly killed. Hoosiers came together in 2018 to resoundingly defeat a proposed bobcat trophy season. It’s time to speak up for bobcats again and oppose S.B. 241.
Ian Goodman
Carmel
The last time I saw a bobcat, it lying dead on the west side of the Allisonville bridge over 465 near Castleton where there was a beautiful forest of trees on the northeast side of 465. This is what happens with progress in development – erasing the homes of many native Indiana animals. I oppose SB241.
Common sense seems to be very uncommon in the Republican controlled Indiana legislature.
I support hunting of bobcats..