INDIANAPOLIS—Last night, Humane World for Animals, formerly called the Humane Society of the United States, led a candlelight vigil to honor the 400 bobcats who are expected to be brutally hunted and trapped for nothing more than a trophy or pelt during Indiana’s hunting season. Five prominent speakers, and over sixty concerned advocates and families gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion on opening day of the season. This is only the second bobcat hunting and trapping season in Indiana’s history since bobcats became endangered in 1969.
Among the advocates were several local students, ages 6 to 18, who attended and urged Gov. Mike Braun to spare these animals. Humane World for Animals honored the students with the Next Generation Wildlife Advocate Award for their dedication to wildlife conservation.
The crowd voiced concern about losing bobcats from Indiana altogether, citing the Department of Natural Resources' own data, which predicts that if the annual quota of 400 bobcats is made permanent, the species could be eliminated from Indiana within 10 years.
"On opening day of this senseless, destructive hunting and trapping season, we are mourning the 400 bobcats who will be cruelly shot, trapped and snared in the coming months," said Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director for Humane World for Animals. "Beyond this loss of wildlife, Hoosiers have lost trust in a state agency that should make decisions to conserve wildlife for future generations, not sacrifice wildlife for the short-term benefit of a small group who want to kill animals for fun or profit. The DNR is ignoring its own data for a proposal that could eliminate a species that took decades to start recovering. Governor Braun and the Natural Resources Commission have the power to prevent this quota increase from becoming permanent and must do so."
On April 22, 2026 the Department of Natural Resources pushed an interim rule to increase the quota from 250 to 400 bobcats and added trophy hunting in addition to trapping. This rule was not required to be approved by the Natural Resources Commission and was adopted for the 2026-2027 bobcat season, despite more than 95% of nearly 500 public comments opposing the rule, according to the DNR. An identical rule, which would make the quota increase permanent, is still under consideration by the NRC.
Bobcats were nearly eliminated in Indiana due to overhunting, trapping and habitat loss. They were listed as a state endangered species from 1969 until 2005, and were protected from hunting and trapping until 2025, when legislation advanced by trapping interests forced the DNR to hold the first recreational trapping season for bobcats that fall. It allowed the use of strangling neck snares, steel-jawed leghold traps, cage traps and included a quota of 250 bobcats across 40 counties. The state has not yet published any data regarding the impact of the 2025 trapping season on the bobcat population.
Download photos from the bobcat vigil
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