Indiana is considering a limited bobcat trapping season and the Department of Natural Resources is seeking public input on the proposal.
The plan would allow trapping in about 40 southern Indiana counties starting in November 2025, with a statewide quota of 250 bobcats. Trappers would have a one-bobcat bag limit and be required to purchase a special bobcat license.
Geriann Albers, furbearer and turkey program leader for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said the proposal includes strict monitoring, and requires trappers to report their catches within 24 hours.
“We do have a population model for bobcats,” Albers explained. “We’re very confident with that 250 quota that it will not negatively impact bobcat populations. What that 250 was set on was the population model we have that shows that’s a sustainable level of harvest.”
Opponents argued even a limited season could threaten bobcat populations. Environmental groups, including the Humane Society, said the DNR’s population model may not fully account for the bobcat’s slow reproductive rate and threats from habitat loss. They contended reintroducing trapping could undermine years of conservation work that helped the species recover in Indiana.
Albers noted the DNR invited public feedback on the proposal.
“On that rule-making docket page the comment button is available for people to submit comments now,” Albers pointed out. “That went up pretty quickly after the meeting but the first round of comments, we haven’t scheduled yet because that usually coincides with when we do a public hearing.”
A public hearing, tentatively set for November, will offer both in-person and virtual participation options. The DNR said updates will be posted on its website.
A man shot and killed a gray wolf Saturday morning while he and two others were waterfowl hunting near St. Germain. Two wolves reportedly approached as close as five yards to their blind.
The Department of Natural Resources is investigating an incident in which a man shot and killed a gray wolf Saturday as he and two others were waterfowl hunting on public land near St. Germain.
Chase Melton, 19, of Sugar Camp, said about 6:15 a.m. Saturday two wolves approached the hunters’ blind.
Melton was accompanied by hunters aged 14 and 13. Saturday was opening day of the 2024 Wisconsin duck hunting season in the north zone.
He initially attempted to scare the wolves off, Melton said in an interview with WJFW in Rhinelander.
“I tried making some noise, I was clapping, stomping, breaking some sticks, whatever,” Melton said.
One of the wolves got as close as 5 yards to the hunters, Melton said. “I probably could have touched it with my hand, that was extremely scary,” Melton said. “So now, we’re really panicking. We’re like alright, we’re surrounded and we have a wolf charging us right now.”
Melton said he picked up his shotgun and when one of the wolves kept coming he shot it in the head; he estimated the animal was 8 to 10 yards away.
A 2017 incident on public land in Adams County, in which a man fired a handgun at and reportedly hit a wolf that approached him, did not qualify as a wolf attack, the DNR concluded.
An investigation was not able to find the wolf; the man was not cited.
A December 2023 incident in which an Ashland County man shot and killed a wolf in his yard remains under investigation. The man reportedly claimed the wolf threatened his safety.
There have been two verified complaints of wolf threats to human safety in Wisconsin this year, according to the DNR. The incidents were reported April 30 in Washburn County and May 30 in Price County. No wolf was shot in either instance.
In another hunting-related case, a ruffed grouse hunter in October 2012 in Minnesota shot and killed a wolf that approached him and his dog. The wolf was 8 yards away when the hunter shot. He was not cited.
The most common form of wolf conflict reported in Wisconsin is with livestock producers. As of last week, 73 confirmed or probable wolf depredations were recorded this year in the state, most on livestock. Other animals killed by wolves include bear hounds and family pets.
The number of wolf depredations this year already has surpassed the annual totals in 2023 (69 confirmed or probable) and 2022 (49).
Johnson said wolf depredations are likely higher this year for multiple reasons, including a mild winter in 2023-24 that made it harder for wolves to catch their primary prey, white-tailed deer. When wolves come into spring and summer in poorer condition they are more likely to attempt to kill livestock.
In addition, lethal controls have been unavailable to wildlife staff since the February 2022 ruling that put the wolf under protections of the Endangered Species Act. Johnson said non-lethal abatement methods such as visual and auditory deterrents lose their effectiveness over time.
An updated population estimate is expected sometime this fall.
Waterfowl hunting safety tips
The south zone duck hunting season opens Saturday in Wisconsin. Waterfowl hunters should follow best boating safety practices as they hit the water this season, according to the DNR.
The top safety tips include wearing a life jacket, avoiding overloading boats, safely transporting firearms, making sure boat lights are working, and sharing your hunting plan with someone on land, including your expected return time and location.
A dozen eggs in August cost $3.20, compared to $2 the same time last year. But these prices are still lower than January 2023, when they peaked at $4.82.
Egg prices are on the rise again, rising more than 28% in August compared to the same month last year.
A dozen eggs were priced at $3.20 this past August, compared to $2.00 in August 2023. The price of eggs has also increased compared to July, as egg prices were $3.08, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Although inflation is largely blamed for much of the rising prices of everyday items, the avian, or bird flu is the main factor making egg prices spike.
Millions of birds are becoming sick across the U.S., causing egg production to drop which leads to higher prices of eggs at the supermarket. As of September, more than one hundred million birds have been affected by bird flu since January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cases are spread throughout 48 different states across the country.
Even still, the prices for eggs in August are nothing compared to prices seen at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. In December 2022, a dozen eggs were $4.25, and in January 2023 they peaked at $4.82.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
It is the sad paradox of wildlife conservation that as soon as a species seems to make progress toward recovery from near extirpation, some people rally to be permitted to hunt and trap them again. This is exactly what’s happening in Indiana right now with the state’s only remaining native wildcat, the bobcat.
Earlier this year, a small but powerful group of recreational fur trappers helped push a bill through the state legislature that forces the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to establish a bobcat-trapping season by July 2025. And last week, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources proposed that trappers be allowed to kill 250 of them using horrific methods including strangling neck snares and steel-jawed leghold traps, even though these small wildcats are only starting to return to their native habitats in Indiana’s woods. But there is hope: concerned residents of the state still have time to prevent even one bobcat from being killed.
The new law mandating a bobcat season allows the Department of Natural Resources flexibility in setting the quota of bobcats that can be legally killed—the agency can even set this number as low as zero.
The Natural Resources Commission will take public comments into account before making its final decision, and they can still decide to set the quota to zero. For that to happen, though, the Commission needs to hear from Indiana residents now. The public comment period for Indiana residents is open and can be accessed by clicking “Submit Comment Here” under Bobcat Amendments at NRC: Rulemaking Docket.
This is not the first time that hunting and trapping groups in Indiana have tried to force the hand of the state to allow the killing of bobcats, but wildlife advocates have always managed to resoundingly defeat these misguided proposals. We celebrated a win in 2018, after a proposal to open a bobcat season was completely withdrawn by the Department due to overwhelming public opposition that we mobilized with strong allies in the state. A bill to open a bobcat season similarly failed in 2019.
Unfortunately, Senate Bill 241 passed in March 2024. Bobcat sightings on trail cameras, were touted as being justification for a bobcat season; misinformation and fearmongering abounded. One proponent claimed that simply seeing a bobcat meant that there were too many, and others stated that bobcats were eating too many turkeys, despite research by the Department of Natural Resources that did not document any consumption of turkeys by bobcats.
Powerful hunting and trapping groups lobbied hard for the bill, but Indiana residents who care about wildlife showed up in force, too. In a particularly inspiring move, students from Bloomington Montessori School traveled to the capitol to visit their state representative, respectfully telling him that they value bobcats and don’t want to see them trapped and killed. These young advocates were able to change his vote. Sadly, though, SB 241 became law despite their efforts.
Students from Bloomington Montessori School traveled to the state capitol building to convince their state representative to change his vote on a bill pushing to open a trapping season for bobcats in Indiana.
Anne Sterling
/
The HSUS
There are many reasons to oppose the bobcat-trapping season. The proposal allows the use of cable neck snares, which are intended to strangle an animal to death by slowly cutting off their air supply, leading to hours or days of suffering. These snares can also catch animals by their torsos or feet, and the cable can become deeply embedded in their skin. Snares hung on a bush or tree can be difficult for people out walking their dogs to spot. This is why snares have come to be referred to as “silent killers” of dogs; unable to cry out for help, dogs may hunker down and pass out before slowly and quietly suffocating to death without their owners being able to rescue them. And snares frequently catch nontarget wildlife such as eagles and deer fawns, as well.
The proposal would also allow the use of steel-jawed leghold traps, contraptions that trappers bury underground and that snap shut when an animal steps on them. Like snares, leghold traps don’t discriminate, jeopardizing wild and domestic animals alike. They can cut through skin causing lacerations, and animals can damage their teeth and gums as they desperately try to free themselves. Trappers are permitted to leave traps unattended for hours; an animal caught in a leghold trap can be left to struggle for up to 24 hours, without access to water, shelter or food, until the trapper arrives to kill them by bludgeoning, strangling suffocation or shooting.
Very few Hoosiers trap (less than 0.06%). Those who do largely “enjoy” the activity as a recreational hobby or to score animal trophies. Only some of that 0.06% sell the fur skinned from trapped animals overseas in the fur markets of Europe, China or Russia. But the fur market is declining in the U.S. and worldwide as consumers demand that retailers stop selling it, and designers all over the world increasingly reject using animal fur in their products.
Hunting, trapping and habitat loss nearly wiped out bobcats in Indiana. In the mid-1900s, the species was listed as endangered under state law, and bobcats retained this status until 2005. The protections from hunting and trapping that come with endangered species status allowed bobcats to slowly begin to recover, making their way back to landscapes that were missing the ecologically essential little carnivores.
Most Hoosiers celebrate the return of Indiana’s only remaining native cat. Shy and elusive, bobcats are essential members of North American ecosystems who contribute to overall biodiversity and ecosystem health. Their diet consists mainly of rodents, rabbits, and squirrels, and they help clean up carcasses, helping to recycle nutrients back into soils. They can even help mitigate zoonotic diseases and chronic wasting disease. Kittens, who are playful and curious, depend on their mothers until they are about a year old. Bobcats even purr! Conflicts with bobcats and people are very rare, but Indiana residents who experience conflicts can legally obtain a permit to kill the bobcat.
In addition to submitting written comments in the coming months, the public can address the Natural Resources Commission and the Department of Natural Resources directly. A public hearing is currently scheduled for November 14, at 5 pm EST at the Southeast-Purdue Agricultural Center in Butlerville (4425 East 350 North). It will also be livestreamed here. It is essential that Indiana animal advocates make their voices heard for bobcats. Trapping is cruel, and the only justifiable number of bobcats trapped and killed in Indiana is zero.
A flock of 5 short-toed eagles came under fire along the Victoria lines on Tuesday as members of BirdLife Malta followed the prized birds in an attempt to prevent them from being killed.
The organisation said in a statement the shots at these birds were fired as they attempted to find a resting place for the night, with one bird being filmed as it was shot down at Bingemma, while volleys of shots at these birds were fired along Tas-Santi, Dwejra and Mtarfa into the evening.
Video footage of the Bingemma incident was passed on to police with a hunter identified as being the same person involved in a separate illegal hunting incident during the closed season last August.
Information about a second, separate incident was also shared with police for further investigation.
The following morning, only two eagles were seen flying out of the northern part of the island, while searches undertaken by police are believed to have been futile.
“Despite peak migration, only two EPU units are currently operative around the island, with occasionally a single unit struggling to keep up with reports of illegal hunting by NGOs,” Birdlife said.
BirdLife Malta said such incidents are a direct consequence of the lack of proper governance of hunting whereby thousands of birds listed in taxidermy collections have gone unchecked for years, with recent allowances in transfers rekindling demand for such birds to become taxidermy specimens.
The organisation added that it was holding Minister Clint Camilleri politically responsible for allowing the opening of a hunting season without the necessary police resources and for allowing a system where a hunter who was caught red-handed hunting illegally is, a month later, persisting in more wildlife crime.
It also remarked on the continuing situation with hunting federations taking no responsibility for their members’ actions.
Short-toed Eagles only appear annually in few numbers between September and November, and they are highly prized for taxidermy.
“As was the case yesterday, hunters do not hesitate to use the opportunity of an open hunting season for game birds to target protected species. A 3pm hunting curfew to protect such birds of prey on arrival was changed to 7pm in 2015, effectively allowing hunting to coincide with the arrival of these highly protected species,” Birdlife said.
