Commercial trappers are the ones with the most practical interest in bobcats. They want to kill them for their pelts – because the beautifully marked fur of these cats can go for $700 for a single pelt. Photo by iStockphoto

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Something bizarre, unfair, and ugly happened in Springfield yesterday.

The Illinois House of Representatives yesterday fell five votes short of a constitutional majority and rightly rejected a bill, HB 352, to reverse the state’s 42-year ban on commercial trapping and sport hunting of bobcats – the small, non-threatening, beautifully adorned North American cats.

Then, just 90 minutes later, after a number of lawmakers from southern Illinois started first stamping their feet and then making the most far-fetched arguments, the House reversed itself and got the bare number of votes needed to send HB 352 to the state’s new Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, for his consideration. With all the problems that Illinois has, apparently about a dozen downstate lawmakers said it was among their top priorities to pass the bobcat trapping bill. I find that remarkable.

The debate I listened to on the live feed from the House chamber sounded like a Saturday Night Live skit. Unfortunately, these guys were serious.

One lawmaker said that he saw a bobcat in his backyard and it looked as big as “a saber-toothed tiger.” Most bobcats weigh about 20 pounds, with the biggest of them getting to 30 pounds (about the size of my little beagle mix, Lily, who is sitting next to me in my office, and just a little bigger than my tabby, Zoe, who sleeps with me on my pillow).

Another bill proponent said that bobcats are “ferocious” and all that’s left after they are done with animals is “a pool of blood.” Yet no human has ever been killed by a bobcat – not in Illinois, Texas, California, or anywhere else where this most common wild cat in North America exists. They are not only small, but shy and fearful of people – and with good reason, given the murderous bunch in Springfield clamoring to kill them for fun.

Commercial trappers are the ones with the most practical interest in bobcats. They want to kill them for their pelts – because the beautifully marked fur of these cats can go for $700 for a single pelt. They set leghold traps that cause the animals to suffer for hours on end, so that somebody can wear a coat with pelts stitched together, even though we have plenty of synthetic and natural fiber alternatives.

Some small number of hunters may want to kill them for a trophy, but that’s a tiny minority of hunters. Bobcats are inedible, and killing an animal just for the thrill of it or for a trophy is anathema to most responsible sportsmen.

And let’s not have any pretense that this bill is about management of bobcats. The state has no idea about the total number of bobcats. How do you manage a population when you have no idea how many there are? And what are you managing them to achieve, since they don’t threaten people, farm animals, deer, or other wildlife? They are actually helpful to farmers by mainly subsisting on rats and mice as the primary foods in their diet.

It is an embarrassment that lawmakers allowed themselves to have their arms twisted and to reverse their vote. Nine House members switched from “No” to “Yes” and enabled this bill to pass. They are: Representatives Patricia Bellock (R-47), Dan Brady (R-105), Tim Butler (R-87), Jim Durkin (R-82), Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-92), David Leitch (R-73), Michael McAuliffe (R-20), David McSweeney (R-52), and Christine Winger (R-45).

Now only Gov. Rauner can stop this disgraceful bill from advancing. If you live in Illinois, I urge you to call him and ask for his veto.

In terms of rational argument, what happened on the Illinois House floor was an embarrassment. In terms of humane treatment, it was a sad moment. In terms of pointless killing, it doesn’t get any worse.