May 18, 2018 at 12:51 pm

Ohio Wildlife Council Tables Bobcat Trapping, Cites OHIO Study

Bobcat caught on camera on July 13, 2017.

The Ohio Wildlife Council indefinitely tabled a proposal to allow bobcat trapping in Ohio, citing a four-year Ohio University study just under way on the state’s the bobcat population.

As reported in the Columbus Dispatch Friday morning, the chair of the advisory council, Dr. Paul Mechling II explained at the meeting why the panel voted 6-1 to table “indefinitely” the bobcat trap-kill plan. “Our vote tonight is not a no vote against bobcat trapping; rather it’s not now. If we get the science and the biology that shows we have a thriving population, we will reconsider this at some other time.” Mechling is an Ashtabula County veterinarian.

He suggested that the Wildlife Council – a citizen panel that considers for approval all proposed Ohio Division of Wildlife regulations – might wait for completion of a four-year study being undertaken at Ohio University before considering a bobcat trapping season again. The study is about a quarter of the way finished.