California Releases First Draft Bobcat Conservation Plan; Statewide Population Put at Over 62,000
SACRAMENTO — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) on October 1 released the state's first draft Bobcat Conservation and Management Plan for public review, with comments accepted through November 1 at [email protected]. The 133-page draft follows a population monitoring report issued in August.
The department's latest estimate puts California's bobcat population at more than 62,000 animals, broadly in line with estimates of 72,960 in 1977 and 68,210 in 1981. CDFW cautions that the earlier figures lacked statistical rigor and are not sufficient to establish a long-term trend, so the plan sets up systematic population monitoring and region-by-region management objectives. Amanda Hubbards, the department's bobcat program coordinator, said systematic monitoring is essential to the department's stewardship responsibilities and to the species' long-term persistence in California.
Historical data in the draft show the hunting pressure bobcats once faced: hunters and trappers took 21,922 bobcats in the 1977-78 season, and the 1979 season closed after 11 weeks when the take hit the 14,400-animal quota. AB 1254, in effect since 2020, bans hunting and trapping of bobcats statewide (depredation permits excepted) and bars any new season until this management plan is in place. Under current law, only the Fish and Game Commission may restore a season, and only after adopting the plan.
On health, CDFW research found mange in 19% of bobcat carcasses submitted for health studies; of 29 bobcats that died of mange, 28 had detectable exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides. Los Angeles County recorded the most mange deaths (11), followed by Ventura and Orange counties, with Santa Clara County and the Monterey area of the Central Coast among the hotspots for vehicle strikes and mange. Vehicle collisions and mange are the leading known causes of bobcat mortality in California. Since AB 1254 took effect, the department has issued no depredation permits authorizing lethal take of a bobcat.
(Source: California Department of Fish and Wildlife)
Source: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：国家公园管理局红外相机在洛杉矶格里菲斯公园拍到的短尾猫（2015年，美国国家公园管理局，公共领域）。A bobcat photographed by a National Park Service camera in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 2015. (National Park Service, public domain)
