U.S. Proposal Would Remove CITES Protection for the Bobcat

Bobcat cubs perch in a tree.

In June, the more than 170 countries that have signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will meet in The Netherlands to discuss trade protections for dozens of plant and animal species.  

One of the proposals to be considered at the meeting would completely remove CITES protection for the bobcat (Lynx rufus). The United States submitted the proposal asking to remove CITES Appendix II protections for the bobcat. In effect, this would mean that there would be no international or federal government oversight of the export of bobcat skins. Only U.S. states would control the number of bobcat skins exported.

Trapped for Their Fur

Bobcats are the most heavily traded cat species, and the trade is growing. Trapped in many U.S. states and in Canada, their fur is sold in the United States, Canada and Europe. International trade in bobcat skins, parts and products has grown by more than 500 percent in the past 10 years: up from 13,105 specimens in 1995 to 69,545 in 2006; the number of skins in trade has grown by more than 460 percent from 11,515 to 53,409.

Bobcat Population Counts Elusive

No one knows how many bobcats exist in the wild, but scientists consider the population to be decreasing as a whole. The U.S. proposal states that there were an estimated 725,000 to 1,017,000 bobcats in the United States in 1981. More than 25 years later, a more recent population estimate is unavailable. No one knows how many bobcats exist in Mexico or Canada either.

Most states that allow bobcat trapping and trade lack scientifically-based information on population sizes; this raises concerns over the impact of increasing trade on these populations. It also calls into question the U.S. government's scientific finding that the export of bobcats is not detrimental to the survival of the species, a CITES requirement for exporting animal parts or products for species listed on Appendix II.

Axing Bobcat Protections Threatens Other Endangered Cats

CITES has repeatedly rejected proposals to remove bobcats from CITES protection because bobcat specimens in trade are similar in appearance to skins, parts and products of other small spotted cats, including cat species that are not allowed to be traded:

• the critically endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)
• the near threatened Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)
• the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) (threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act)
• the Mexican bobcat (Lynx rufus escuinapae) (endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act)

If the bobcat was to be removed from CITES protection, illegal trade would likely increase. Also, laundering of other Lynx species into trade would be facilitated.

The U.S. proposal acknowledges that pieces of bobcat skin cannot be distinguished from specimens of other Lynx species even with laboratory analysis. It argues that 78 percent of bobcat trade is skins, which are almost always auctioned as complete skins, so they can be readily distinguished from other Lynx species by the ears and tail. 

This argument ignores the significant trade in parts and manufactured products which are not whole skins (8,141 specimens in 2006 alone) and which cannot be distinguished from other Lynx species even by forensic analysis.