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Lawmaker Will Revive Bill to Allow Bobcat Hunting

Wiki Commons

The Humane Society and other animal rights groups celebrated when --- in one of his final acts as governor --  Pat Quinn vetoed a proposal to reintroduce bobcat hunting in Illinois.

But State Senator Sam McCann (R-Carlinville) said he will reintroduce the idea this year. 

McCann said hunting is a tool the state can use to better manage the bobcat population.

“I think I said on the Senate floor in the original debate that this is not the bobcat eradication bill, this is the bobcat management bill--the resource management bill,” McCann said.

“All we want to do is properly manage the resource. We don't want to drive it into extinction.”

A news release from Quinn's office said he vetoed the bill because bobcats continue to need protection. 

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources reports bobcats were taken off the threatened species list in 1999, and their current population of around 2,000 continues to grow.