The most recent population estimate for the United States is more than 25 years old and there are no population estimates for Canada or Mexico.
According to 2001 statistics provided from actual sales of hunting permits, over 40,000 bobcats are still being killed each year. This figure does not include all the bobcats killed by hunters who do not buy licenses nor report their kills. Less than 3% of our population are hunters but they kill over 100 million animals each year for sport.
They are also trapped in the wild with cruel leg-hold traps for their fur, which is made into garments. More than 53,000 skins are traded internationally every year and the level has increased five-fold since 1995. The United States is the largest exporter.
The illegal trade in endangered and threatened lynx species and bobcat skins cannot be distinguished even by forensic analysis from those of other lynx species, including the critically endangered Iberian lynx, and other endangered and threatened lynx species including the Eurasian lynx, Canada lynx and Mexican bobcat.
Stop exporting bobcat skins. There hasn't been a population estimate in over 25 years, therefore you couldn't possible know if the cat is endangered, or when it might become endangered.
Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W. / Washington DC 20240
feedback@ios.doi.gov
Secretary_of_the_Interior@ios.doi.gov
