Group wants to ban hunting of bobcats, other big cats in Arizona

An animal-welfare group wants Arizona voters to put an end to sport hunting of mountain lions, bobcats and other big cats that roam the state.

Arizonans for Wildlife filed paperwork Monday to collect signatures for a ballot initiative that would outlaw the hunting or trapping of wild cats. The group says it wants to stop trophy hunting, in which cats are killed only for their head or fur.

To get the issue on the November 2018 ballot, the group must collect at least 150,642 valid signatures by July 5.

Kellye Pinkleton, campaign director for Arizonans for Wildlife, said hunters are cruelly killing wild cats for sport, not for their meat. She said the initiative also would end the use of steel-jawed traps, dog packs and other cat-hunting methods.

"It really is for their heads or to be stuffed," she said. "It is simply a trophy."

Pinkleton, who is the Arizona director for the Humane Society of the United States, said the initiative is supported by groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Arizona Animal Welfare League and the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon chapter.

Hunters balk at idea

The initiative faces opposition from hunters and others who say the state's mountain lion population isn't endangered and is safely regulated by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Jim Unmacht, executive director of Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation, said he believes activists who want to eliminate hunting altogether are largely funding the initiative.

Unmacht said Arizona's mountain lion population is rebounding and two other species listed by initiative supporters — jaguars and ocelots — are already endangered species protected under federal law.

“They’re trying to find a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist," he said. “We are going to mobilize and do what we can do to fight it."

While the proposed initiative would generally ban the killing of wild cats, it would include exceptions for people who kill wild cats that "threaten personal safety, property or livestock."

Pinkleton said the initiative targets only trophy hunting of wild cats and would not impact of the hunting of other big game, such as deer and elk, for subsistence. She said there is strong public sentiment opposing hunting cats for sport.

“I don’t think people have the stomach for trophy hunting," Pinkleton said.

READ MORE:

With a clearer view, biologists conclude roaming Arizona jaguar is a male

Endangered species, and the wall that could silence them

Officials suggest ‘licensed hunting’ to combat bison problem at Grand Canyon