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Natural Resources Authority prepares rules for trapping bobcats, otters • Indiana Capital Chronicle

Posted on by darion

The Indiana Natural Resources Commission on Tuesday approved preliminary rules for a new lynx trapping season enacted by the Legislature and also finalized statewide regulations for the river otter harvest.

Commission chairman Bryan Poynter called working with the lynx “a tough task,” speaking in the ballroom of the Fort Harrison State Park Inn in Marion County.

The proposed changes by the Department of Natural Resources would establish a lynx hunting season in 40 southern Indiana counties, with a limit of one lynx per trapper and a seasonal quota of 250 lynx. It would run from November through January.

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Biologist Geriann Albers said the department set the limits based on a data model created in partnership with Purdue University.

Department of Natural Resources biologist Geriann Albers speaks at a commission meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

She added that the model’s assumptions were “very conservative.”

“We are confident that these numbers are sustainable and will not negatively impact the lynx population,” Albers told the commission.

The season is limited to “established” populations in the south, for example, because lynx populations further north are still considered “emerging.”

The department also recommended other changes: allowing the sale of legally acquired lynxes and their parts, allowing the keeping of dead lynxes for personal use after obtaining a permit, and others.

Traps will be limited to cage traps, handle traps and cable traps.

“We know that these three types have been tested on lynx and are humane, effective and selective toward lynx,” Albers said.

She told the Capital Chronicle that the department’s bobcat-trapping efforts have been going on for at least four years. Creating regulations for a brand new season is complicated, she said, because it involves a ton of data and other moving parts.

In 2019, the department considered a lynx season but abandoned the idea after public backlash. Lawmakers stepped in earlier this year to require the season.

The department’s Fish and Wildlife Division sought to strike a balance.

“People enjoy participating in hunting and trapping, but we also want to achieve a balance so that (lynx) are still available for people to see or photograph and things like that,” Albers said. “So we try to maximize the outdoor activities available, but in a sustainable way.”

The inn at Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

The committee approved the initial adoption of the amendments in an oral vote. Public comments are due before the final vote.

Final regulations were also approved to extend the river otter hunting season, an event Poynter called “one of the most successful we’ve had in Indiana in a long time.”

According to Purdue University, Hoosier river otters were already very few in number by the 1900s, and in 1942 they were considered extinct in Indiana.

The department began a reintroduction program in 1995, releasing 303 river otters into the state before the new millennium, according to its website. Most came from Louisiana, Albers said.

By 2005, the population had recovered so much that river otters were removed from the endangered species list. The department opened its first limited season for the creatures in 2015.

Currently, the department estimates there are more than 8,000 river otters in Indiana.

“As the otter population continued to grow, we increased that quota and started adding more and more counties. We reached a tipping point where most of the state was open and only a few counties were closed,” Albers said.

And Indiana residents who have “otter problems” can take them during the season instead of having to apply for other permits. River otters usually get into small ponds with fish, she said.

“The otters treat it as a buffet of sorts,” she noted.

The changes establish a statewide bag limit of 750 river otters with an individual bag limit of two. The season runs from mid-November to mid-March.

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