Dear Friend of Wildlife,
The bobcat is the most widespread wildcat in North America. But by the 1980s their numbers throughout New England had dwindled due to bounties, hunting and trapping. In 1989, the bobcat became a fully protected species in New Hampshire.
In 2009, the N.H. Fish and Game, in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire (UNH) began a study to assess bobcat populations. UNH asked the public for help with sightings using trail cams; the public’s response led the Fish and Game Commission to arrive at an unexpected decision.
In October of 2015, pressure from the hunting and trapping lobby resulted in a Fish and Game Commission vote in favor of initiating rule-making to establish a bobcat hunting, trapping, baiting and hounding season, to include the issuance of 50 permits (for NH residents only) via a lottery system. The public was prevented from commenting on the issue at this time.
In December of 2015, the Commission approved a final draft proposal to open a killing season on bobcats presented by the Department, opening the way for the rule-making process to begin which entails soliciting public comment, including written comments and oral testimony at public hearings.
Please join Project Coyote in opposing a trapping, baiting, hunting and hounding season on the bobcat in New Hampshire! Since there is no biological reason to take this animal, this proposal is simply to expand recreational and commercial killing opportunities.
Please be a voice for our bobcats by writing to the Commission, submitting letters to the editor, and showing up and speaking at the hearings.
We need your voice!
What you can do:
1. Write to your NH Fish & Game Commissioner (see below) and encourage him to oppose the current proposal for a season on the bobcat.
Current Fish and Game Commissioners:
Strafford County
Barry Carr
285 NE Pond Rd
Milton, NH 03851
Tel: (603) 755-1175
Term: June 29, 2019
Coastal
Fred Clews, Jr.
100 Landing Rd.
Hampton, NH 03842
(603) 926-5072
Term: Sept. 13, 2017
Merrimack County
Vincent Greco
P.O. Box 151
Pembroke, NH 03275
Phone (603) 715-9091
Term: June 29, 2017
Grafton County
Todd Baldwin
36 Chickenboro Rd.
Thornton, NH 03285
Tel: (603) 726-3446
Term: June 29, 2019
Coos County
Theodore A. Tichy, Chair
12 Spruceville Road
Milan, NH 03588
(603) 449-2244
Term: June 29, 2017
Hillsborough County
Walter Morse
103 Preston Road
Hillsboro, NH 03244
(603) 464-3797
Term: June 29, 2018
Belknap County
John W. McGonagle
165 Potter Hill Road
Gilford, NH 03249
(603) 524-3134
Term: June 29, 2016
Rockingham County
James W. Ryan, Secretary/Treasurer
194 Old Mountain Road
Northwood, NH 03261
(603) 942-8579
Term: June 29, 2018
Carroll County
David L. Patch, Vice Chair
PO Box 10
Glen, NH 03838
(603) 387-3771
Term: June 29, 2016
Sullivan County
Tom Hubert
585 Unity Road
Newport, NH 03773
(603) 863-9213
Term: June 29, 2020
Cheshire County
Robert Phillipson
195 Gunn Road
Keene, NH 03431
(603) 352-8336
Term: June 29, 2020
- Join Project Coyote at two upcoming Fish and Game Commission hearings where this issue will be considered.
- Monday, February 1, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. at Representatives Hall in the N.H. State House in Concord, N.H.
- Tuesday, February 2, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. at Fish and Game’s Region 1 Office at 629B Main Street in Lancaster, N.H.
- Help keep this issue in the public eye by submitting Letters to the Editor to your local paper(s). Use the talking points below and our tips and tools for writing LTE’s.Talking points:
- The 50 licenses proposed to be issued would not augment the current NHFG budget in any meaningful way. Our wildlife is worth more to us alive than it is to a few individuals who might sell the pelts to fur auction houses.
- Trapping, hounding, baiting and trophy hunting bobcats is ethically indefensible, ecologically unsound, and economically unjustifiable.
- Trapping bobcats is cruel and unnecessary. Trapped bobcats are generally clubbed and/or suffocated to death (bullets damage the pelt).
- Bobcats are an important native species to New Hampshire. We should not allow the killing of our bobcats to feed the growing international fur markets in Asia and Russia where one bobcat pelt can sell upwards of $1000.
- As stewards and trustees of New Hampshire’s wildlife, the Commission should not cater to the tiny minority of people who enjoy killing bobcats for fun and profit.
- The value of one live bobcat to the millions who enjoy wildlife watching far outweighs the value of one dead bobcat to one fur trapper or trophy hunter.For more information please contact Chris Schadler, Project Coyote NH and VT Representative at at info@projectcoyote.org.
Thank you for speaking up for wildlife! Please share this alert with others.