They Want to Make It Legal to Sport Hunt Bobcats in New Hampshire
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission made a decision by a vote of 5 to 4 to make it legal to hunt and trap bobcats in New Hampshire despite overwhelming opposition by the general public. California banned bobcat hunting on the basis of public opinion and because they have a more enlightened 21st century attitude towards this sort of activity.
Male Bobcat
Apparently, the bobcat is so scarce in New Hampshire that most residents in the state never see one! There are from 800 to 1200 in the state (guesstimated by “scientists”). Bobcats mind their own business and try and live in harmony with human beings and yet humans have decided to kill them for the fun of it and trap them in the most cruel manner for the skin on their back. The charming human at play.
The bobcat cannot be a nuisance in New Hampshire because they’re too scarce. The only reason why the Commission have decided to let sport hunters shoot them is because they like it. It is such fun to kill animals isn’t it! I hate these people.
Bobcat kitten
I thought that the raisin d’etre of the Fish and Game Commissions in the USA was essentially the preservation and conservation of wildlife. Clearly their responsibilities have grown and extended since they were originally created in the latter part of the 19th century but to decide to make it legal to sport hunt and trap bobcats in New Hampshire, when the population in this state of this species of wild cat is so low, must be wrong.
I’ve always believed that these Commissions are open to influence by individuals and organisations either through lobbying or bribery. I wonder how independent the Commissions are. I wonder how influenced they are by outside forces in one way or another. When a decision such as this one is made you have to believe that their decision-making processes have been tainted or influenced in some way or another.
The sport hunting community and the gun lobby in the USA are energetic and forceful. They like to get their own way. There is also a lot of money amongst the sport hunting community and the gun lobby. They tend to use the money to achieve their ends. I’m not saying that there is corruption here but if there was corruption, it would not surprise me.
There is a petition to overturn the decision on the petition site. It has collected 122,000 signatures at the time of dictating this. The comments are interesting on that page. Everyone of them that I have seen is against the decision. And why not? It is common sense. Every decent person would be against the decision to hunt bobcats in New Hampshire. The public should be allowed to influence the vote. It should not be a decision made by nine people who quite possibly have their own axe to grind if they’re not influenced by outside forces.
“There is absolutely no reason to hunt, trap and hound the bobcat in New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire have spoken out clearly against this hunt.”
The above comment was written by Catherine. She also makes the point that the scientists guesstimated the population size of the bobcat in New Hampshire. This is not uncommon i.e guessing cat population sizes. It is quite likely that they have overestimated the population size in order to allow the Commission to make their decision to hunt the animal. In 1989 there were 200 bobcats, estimated, living in the state. A decision about hunting the bobcat should not be made upon guesstimates on population sizes. This is another failing in the decision-making process.
“There is no need. We do not have an overpopulation issue with bobcats”-Michelle Story
The citizens of New Hampshire would rather see the bobcat living in their natural environment rather than mounted on a plaque and put up on someone’s wall as a trophy. It’s madness, this decision, and it must be stopped. Bobcat trapping stats in USA.