Indiana's bobcats survived near-extinction once. Now the state wants to risk wiping them out again — and this time, its own scientists are sounding the alarm.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is proposing to raise the annual bobcat killing quota from 250 to 400 — a 60% increase — and to allow trophy hunting for the first time. But the DNR's own predictive model shows that a quota of 400 could cause the bobcat population to decline by up to 100% within just 10 years. That means complete extermination of bobcats from Indiana, a state where they were already nearly eradicated before being placed under protection in 1969.

Let's be clear about what that killing looks like. Last November, 253 bobcats died after being caught in steel-jawed leghold traps, wire neck snares, and cage traps — sometimes held for up to 24 hours before a trapper arrived to kill them. These are not humane methods. They are painful, terrifying, and indiscriminate. And the state is now proposing to expand this practice, not end it.

The Indiana DNR is supposed to manage wildlife for all residents, not just a small number of trophy hunters and trappers. But only 24% of Indiana residents supported the 2025 bobcat trapping season, and just 18% support trophy hunting of bobcats, according to a survey commissioned by Humane World for Animals. At a public hearing on May 19, 2026, 27 out of 31 speakers came out against the increase — biologists, landowners, and everyday citizens who simply want to protect the wildlife they share their state with.

A state agency ignoring its own science to push a policy that could erase a species — one that took decades to recover — is not wildlife management. It's negligence. Governor Mike Braun has the power to withdraw this rule before it takes effect. We're asking him to do exactly that.

Sign this petition to urge Governor Braun and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to withdraw the proposed rule increasing the bobcat killing quota and adding trophy hunting.