Indiana brought back bobcat hunting last year for the first time in more than fifty years, allowing trappers to take up to 250 cats statewide. Now the Department of Natural Resources wants to go much further: raising that quota to 400 and, for the first time, letting hunters use guns and crossbows to kill bobcats too — not just trappers.

DNR Director Alan Morrison has already given the plan preliminary approval, meaning the changes could take effect this year even before a final rule is adopted.

The problem is nobody actually knows how many bobcats live in Indiana. "Our biggest concern still is that Department of Natural Resources has not done an actual count," said Samantha Chapman, Indiana State Director with Humane World for Animals. "All the data they have is based on sightings, trail cams and volunteers that have said they've seen them, and it's just a lot of anecdotal evidence."

Indiana already has a permitting system that lets residents deal with bobcats causing property damage case by case. A statewide quota hike of 60 percent isn't needed to solve that problem — it just means more bobcats killed based on guesswork.

Even people who support hunting bobcats are urging caution. "I'm not one of those guys that's wide open to seeing how many we can kill," said Nick Erny, a trapper and spokesperson for the Indiana State Trappers Association. Dan Boritt, executive director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation, warns that adding guns during deer season means hunters could wound or kill bobcats opportunistically, without it ever counting toward the official quota.

The DNR's Natural Resources Commission votes on this rule August 27 in Indianapolis. Sign the petition to tell them to reject the quota increase until Indiana actually knows how many bobcats it has.