CHICAGO — A small but vocal group is trying to sabotage the lottery for getting a permit to hunt bobcats in Illinois for the first time in 40-plus years.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is administering the application process, which runs through Friday. The department is issuing 500 permits to hunters, who can harvest one bobcat each — either by hunting or trapping them.
The elusive animal averages 2 feet in height from its shoulder, and adult males can weigh up to 40 pounds. They can be found in the vast majority of Illinois' 102 counties, but none have been officially spotted in Chicago's city limits.
Justin Breen talks about the unique bobcat hunt protest.
The cats, which had been eliminated in the state by the mid-1900s, were listed as threatened in the state from 1977-1999. Natural Resources spokesman Chris Young said the cats, which eat rabbits and other small mammals, are a "conservation success story."
They first were protected in 1972.
"The creation of a regulated hunting and trapping season is the next step in the bobcat’s long-term management," Young said.
As of Monday, 5,349 people had applied for bobcat permits, Young said. The lottery will be held after the application period ends Friday and anyone can apply, he said. The application process costs about $6.
Last year, the Department of Natural Resources estimated the bobcat population across the state to be about 5,000. Those against the hunt, who would simply not hunt a bobcat if they received a permit, said removing up to 10 percent of the bobcats' population in the state is too much.
"In the age of human-induced species loss we live in today, I think extra caution should be exercised," said one applicant who requested anonymity so his name wouldn't potentially be removed from the lottery. "Allowing the harvest of up to 500 animals seems dangerously high. ... The [Department of Natural Resources] does many good things in our state, but this seems to be a time when they have jumped the gun, so to speak."
Members of the group who are against the hunt, who number in the dozens, said they also have asked their family members to apply for the permits.
According to the state, bobcats can be hunted from Nov. 10-Jan. 31 with brief closures during the firearm deer season. Trapping season will run from Nov. 5-Jan. 20 in the "northern zone" of Illinois and Nov. 10-Jan. 25 in the state's "southern zone." Hunting and trapping of bobcats, though, will be prohibited in northeastern Illinois, which includes the Chicago area.
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