| Hi-Desert Star | - |
The
Bobcat Protection Act of 2013 is on its way to Gov. Jerry Brown for
review. Bobcat Act clears committee. Rebecca Unger For the Hi-Desert
Star.
Bobcat trapping banned around Joshua Tree National Park
Posted: Friday, October 11, 2013 4:16 pm
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Bobcat Protection Act
Friday, banning trappers from harvesting bobcats in a zone around Joshua
Tree National Park.
The buffer zone will also encompass Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.
The governor asked the Legislature to work with his staff to secure funding to survey California’s bobcat population.
The Fish and Game Commission should consider setting limits on trapping permits based on the numbers to be revealed in the survey, Brown wrote in his signing statement.
The bobcat act was introduced by Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, responding to an outcry over bobcat trapping in the Morongo Basin.
It began in January this year when Tom O’Key found a bobcat trap on his land abutting Joshua Tree National Park.
The trapper was later contacted by the Hi-Desert Star and said he mistook O’Key’s property for public land.
The average bobcat pelt from the Morongo Basin will fetch $200 to $700 on the market, he said.
Bloom’s office reported Friday that demand for bobcat pelts in China, Russia and Greece led to a spike in pelt prices from $79 in 2009 to more than $700 today.
“As a result, trapping of bobcats in California has skyrocketed,” a news release from Bloom read.
In the 2011-2012 trapping season, the number of bobcat trappers more than doubled over the previous season, while the number of trapped bobcats rose by more than 50 percent, according to Bloom’s office.
Under the new law, starting Jan. 1, 2014, it will be illegal to trap bobcats in the area surrounding Joshua Tree National Park.
What area
The bill goes much further, requiring the Fish and Game Commission to prohibit bobcat trapping adjacent to every national and state park, national monument and wildlife refuge where bobcat trapping is banned inside the protected land.
In 2016, the wildlife commission will have to consider whether to ban bobcat trapping in and next to other preserves and conservation areas.
In a nod to O’Key’s experience, the new law requires trappers to get written permission from land owners before leaving traps on private property.
To help pay for the new regulations and the staff work enforcing them will entail, the wildlife commission will have to set new trapping license fees high enough to cover staff costs.
Current state law allows bobcat trappers to take up to 14,400 bobcats throughout California during a season from November to January.
During the 2011-12 license year, 1,500 cats were killed by trappers, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
O’Key applauded the new law. “I love the idea of a community coming together to work on an issue that has an intrinsic meaning everyone understands,” he said in an announcement from county Supervisor James Ramos’ office.
Ramos sent a letter to Sacramento supporting the bill and said he was thrilled to learn the act was signed. “I want to thank Governor Brown for his support to San Bernardino County and the area of Joshua Tree,” he said. “I would also like to thank my constituents for their hard work in bringing this legislation forward.”
end quote from:
The buffer zone will also encompass Big Morongo Canyon Preserve.
The governor asked the Legislature to work with his staff to secure funding to survey California’s bobcat population.
The Fish and Game Commission should consider setting limits on trapping permits based on the numbers to be revealed in the survey, Brown wrote in his signing statement.
The bobcat act was introduced by Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, responding to an outcry over bobcat trapping in the Morongo Basin.
It began in January this year when Tom O’Key found a bobcat trap on his land abutting Joshua Tree National Park.
The trapper was later contacted by the Hi-Desert Star and said he mistook O’Key’s property for public land.
The average bobcat pelt from the Morongo Basin will fetch $200 to $700 on the market, he said.
Bloom’s office reported Friday that demand for bobcat pelts in China, Russia and Greece led to a spike in pelt prices from $79 in 2009 to more than $700 today.
“As a result, trapping of bobcats in California has skyrocketed,” a news release from Bloom read.
In the 2011-2012 trapping season, the number of bobcat trappers more than doubled over the previous season, while the number of trapped bobcats rose by more than 50 percent, according to Bloom’s office.
Under the new law, starting Jan. 1, 2014, it will be illegal to trap bobcats in the area surrounding Joshua Tree National Park.
What area
The bill goes much further, requiring the Fish and Game Commission to prohibit bobcat trapping adjacent to every national and state park, national monument and wildlife refuge where bobcat trapping is banned inside the protected land.
In 2016, the wildlife commission will have to consider whether to ban bobcat trapping in and next to other preserves and conservation areas.
In a nod to O’Key’s experience, the new law requires trappers to get written permission from land owners before leaving traps on private property.
To help pay for the new regulations and the staff work enforcing them will entail, the wildlife commission will have to set new trapping license fees high enough to cover staff costs.
Current state law allows bobcat trappers to take up to 14,400 bobcats throughout California during a season from November to January.
During the 2011-12 license year, 1,500 cats were killed by trappers, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
O’Key applauded the new law. “I love the idea of a community coming together to work on an issue that has an intrinsic meaning everyone understands,” he said in an announcement from county Supervisor James Ramos’ office.
Ramos sent a letter to Sacramento supporting the bill and said he was thrilled to learn the act was signed. “I want to thank Governor Brown for his support to San Bernardino County and the area of Joshua Tree,” he said. “I would also like to thank my constituents for their hard work in bringing this legislation forward.”
end quote from:
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