Quinn vetoes bill that would've opened bobcats to hunting in IL

Wildlife keeper Alicia Seghi feeds an adult male bobcat Dec. 9, 2014, in an enclosure at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn. The bobcat was injured by a car in 2005. (Chuck Berman, Chicago Tribune)

 

By Christy Gutowski Chicago Tribune 

 

With veto, outgoing Gov. Quinn takes bobcat off menus. Illinois hunters, put down your bows. Bobcats are still off-limits after Quinn vetoes bill. One day before he is set to leave office, Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed legislation Sunday that would have allowed bobcat hunting in Illinois for the first time in 40 years.

The measure would have amended the wildlife code to allow hunters to kill one bobcat in a season that would run Nov. 1 to Feb. 15. Quinn said he vetoed the legislation because bobcats are a "valuable part of Illinois' ecosystem" that should be protected.

The bobcat: A stealthy predator named for its tail 

 

"We all have a responsibility to protect and maintain Illinois' wildlife," he said in a statement. "Allowing people to hunt bobcats in Illinois violates that responsibility."

Illinois banned bobcat hunting in 1972 after the population was decimated by habitat changes and unregulated hunting for the highly valuable spotted fur. The cats were on Illinois' threatened species list from 1977 to 1999.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources estimates the bobcat population has grown to 5,000 statewide, mostly in southern regions, and regulated hunting would have helped manage the species.

Supporters of a bobcat hunting season said the need to control the now-healthy population is a conservation success story. But critics cried foul. They argued the proposal was all about trophies and profit, not about food.

Groups such as the Illinois Environmental Council and state chapters of the Humane Society of the United States and Sierra Club lobbied the governor to veto the measure.

Jennifer Walling, the environmental council's executive director, said her organization gave Quinn a petition with 3,000 signatures opposing the legislation.

Walling had argued that the bill was rushed through with little scrutiny and testimony from ecologists and scientists. She said it lacked specifics about how the hunting would be regulated and whether it would be statewide or specific to southern regions.

Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, R-Morrisonville,, sponsored the measure. Rosenthal said he introduced the bill after hearing concerns from hunters about bobcats depleting wild game populations and constituents with farms irked that the big cats were plucking off their chickens and pet cats.

Bobcats, named for their short, bobbed tail, are about twice the size of a common house cat. They use their keen sight and hearing to hunt rabbits, squirrels, small rodents and some birds. They are nocturnal, reclusive animals with few predators in the state and prefer forested or wooded areas, according to wildlife experts.

On Monday, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner is set to take the oath of office.

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