Scratched cat fever

Will DFG ban hunting for bobcats?

Trapping animals for fur and pelts sounds like a Good Ol’ Days display or part of a lecture given by a guy dressed like “Jeremiah Johnson,” but trapping is alive and well in the Eastern Sierra.

There were more than 200 bobcats harvested on the Eastside in 2013/14. That may all change with soon to be released guidelines and possible limitations proposed by the California Fish and Game Department.

Fish and Game is juggling whether to ban the practice altogether, or in just 38 counties, but not including Mono or Inyo counties. The partial ban would also include buffer zones around national forests and state parks.

The harvest of bobcats for fur has been a legal practice in California since 1975. The animals are live caught in traps; leg traps have been banned since 1998. The animals are shot and skinned, with the pelts sold to China for processing, made into stoles and trademark fuzzy caps sold mainly in Russia and other former Soviet bloc countries.

According to DFG there were 77 cats taken from Mono County in the 2013/14 season and 157 taken in Inyo. The average price for a pelt is about $390 but can fetch as much as $700 for an exceptional specimen. Bobcats are the only spotted cat that can be legally traded internationally.

At its Tuesday meeting, Mono County Supervisors discussed and later haggled over the issue, its impact on the county and whether to send a letter to Fish and Game. The rub is that there is little information as to how Fish and Game will proceed. Lack of information is a major theme in the Bobcat Protection Act of 2013. Fish and Game is conducting a current population study, an update from numbers currently used, collected in the 1970s. There are many years with no harvest information available. There are also no specifics in the act on the size of the buffer zones around parks and forests or how the lines will be established; be it by geographic landmark, roadways or specific distances.

Former Mono County supervisor and bobcat trapper Ed Inwood said that he fears that poachers from out of the area, from counties where trapping would be banned, would flock into the county to continue their trade. Inwood was credited with approaching the supervisors and asking it not to support Fish and Games proposed regulations, be it the statewide or county-by-county ban. He said that the influx of trappers would lead to even more cats being taken from the area.

Supervisor Tim Alpers said he was concerned about the survivability of the species, particularly with the current conditions and resources being so stressed by the drought. He said his “gut reaction” was to save the population. But there is a need for more data from Fish and Game.

Supervisor Stacy Corless said the local Fish and Game Department is currently conducting a head count of the animals, but it will take a long time to complete. Nevertheless, DFG is set to make a decision on the act in June. She said this gives little time to talk with the public about what it thinks. She said couldn’t support a letter to Fish and Game as currently written due to the vagueness of the details of the act.

The act of trapping itself was a hot topic for supervisors and the public. Comments on the practice ranged from it being called “grotesque,” archaic, and not in sync with the current environment or how the county wants to promote itself (Supervisor Larry Johnston) to the practice being no different than hunting or fishing and is a part of some people’s livelihood (Supervisor Tim Fesko). Some supervisors and members of the public said trapping is not in line with the Mono County motto, ”Wild by Nature.” Fesko said he wasn’t quite sure what that had to do with the issue.

SP Parker, owner of Sierra Mountain Center guide service said via teleconference that wildlife are an asset to the entire community and local economy, yet trapping is allowed to continue and the numbers of wildlife decline. Trapping benefits only the trappers, he said.

Lynn Boulton of Lee Vining said that the animals are good for eco-tourism, including the more than 300,000 annual visitors to the Mono Lake National Forest Scenic Basin.

County leaders ultimately voted 4 to 1 to send a letter a.) requesting a temporary ban on bobcat trapping in Mono County until a population survey is completed, and b.) If that’s not possible, create buffer zones around parks and scenic areas. Fesko dissented.

The issue will remain in a holding pattern until more information is provided by Fish and Game and the final decision is handed down in June with implementation set for January 2016. The issue is scheduled to go before the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission this week with the possibility of more details coming out of that meeting.

News and notes 

51 cats were harvested in 2012-13 and 47 in the 2011-12 season. The price for pelts has shifted dramatically since the 1980-81 season and the present, from $129 a pelt in 1980 to $17 in 1989 and up to all-time high prices of $362 for 2011-12 and $390 for the 2013-14 season. Inwood said after the meeting, the increase in the numbers is due to higher demand. A Mono City resident blamed the rise in harvest on the drought, as more animals come down from the backcountry in search of water, making them vulnerable.